Handprints
by WonderfulCaricature
Summary: Elphaba is recruited to take out the crowned prince of the Vinkus. AU.
1. Pink

**I don't even know, guys. I was reading a primary source for my history class and thought, "Elphaba. Glinda. BAMF vigilantes." So I bring you this.**

**Disclaimer: I own a pair of rain boots.**

Glinda weaved in and out of the crowd with all the grace of a butterfly. She fit in so well among the guests that no one would have ever guessed she had ulterior motives for the wine and dine. She smiled demurely as a man with a large gut bowed to the best of his abilities and then kissed her pro-offered left gloved hand. It was impossible, but I swear I could hear her giggle over the deafening noise of the gala. Every path she took, she left a trail of head turns and whispers behind hands. No one knew her name, but everyone wanted to get to know her. She had that effect on people. She made the strongest man weak and the coldest woman warm. It was nearly unthinkable to associate Glinda with the presence of wicked. She laughed her twinkle laugh when people brought up the topic of evil. All she had to do was say that no such thing existed, and those around her would fool themselves into thinking this little blonde with the bouncy curls was right about everything.

I never took my arrow off of her, ready to release it without a second thought.

She left a few more people fumbling for words and made her way a little closer to the haughty man at the head of the large banquet room. Throwing a quick glance around, I moved carefully over the rafters, keeping the arrow on Glinda at all times. A woman who looked remarkably similar to a fish stopped the blonde with a firm grasp on her elbow. I readied my aim, but a toss of her hair put my attention back on the blonde. The woman talked for a while. Long enough for the clock, somewhere in the room, to chime eleven times. It'd been two hours, and we were behind schedule. We were never behind. Well, we were hardly ever behind. Normally, we were in and out. I should have known galas were dangerous. I couldn't barely trust Glinda to walk in and out of a shoe store on a tight schedule, coming to something this stuffed with frills and thrills was a long shot. I seriously contemplated shooting an arrow right into the layers of fabric that covered the blonde's butt, but I reminded myself that would lead us nowhere.

Finally, the two parted. I perked up when the fishy lady beckoned Glinda to follow her. When her companion's back was turned, Glinda glanced up at me and adjusted the necklace she was wearing; and I was on the move again. I put the arrow away and clutched the bow tightly as I resorted to simply watching over the blonde without the added protection. The woman brought Glinda to the man at the head of the room. His mouth slackened at the sight of Glinda, and he kissed her cheeks like she was some saint sent to him from one of Oz's many deities. I rolled my eyes and waited for Glinda to give me some signal before moving on.

The second she casually fit in an unmistakable trace of the shell of her ear, I was walking to the far wall. Just like we planned. A movement out of the corner of my eye stopped me in my tracks. I had my bow and arrow back up and ready within a moment, pointing in the direction where I had seen the flash of silver. Keeping my aim on the shadows and steps slow and careful, I continued moving towards the window that was waiting for me. I didn't attempt to go through it until no movement or sign of life was made or seen. It could have been the candle light down below reflecting off of something one of the guest's had on. It had happened many times before. Tricks of the light. Or I could have been so tired that my mind was fooling me. Either way, I made sure to wait another minute or so before slinking out onto the roof.

There was an eerie feeling to the night. Then again, there always seemed to be an eerie feeling whenever we were out. I stared down at the black river that the building was banked on. The owner of the house across the way drowned in it. He had been trying to kill his wife and child and set fire to the house. He was an idiot, though. Locked himself inside with the flames and victims. He made to jump out the window into the water below, but his robes got caught on something (the story changes every time). His daughter tried to shoot him in the head, but she got his throat for her hands were shaking so bad. The pain jerked through him and the movements released him from whatever had been holding onto him. He tumbled into the water and drowned in his blood and the unforgiving water. The mother was never the same. The daughter won't touch a gun.

But she's quite handy with chloroform.

I shimmied into the empty room and waited out of sight.

It didn't take long before Glinda's effortless laugh broke through the silence.

"You're very pretty." Followed her glee and cut it off.

"You're too kind." Glinda answered.

A lit candle put their shadows above me. I rolled my eyes at the position they were locked in.

"You're so tense, Master." Her voice was low and husky, which was quite impressive for her.

"It comes with the job." He moaned as Glinda's figure began to massage his shoulders.

Glinda hummed a note that could have been mistaken as a sigh of content. It wasn't. We done this so many times that it seemed second nature now. Before he could even register what was happening, I made my appearance known. He jerked away from Glinda at the movement I made. From behind him, she clamped her right hand over his mouth just before I released the arrow with his name on it. The arrow pinned his hand to his trapezius, and the chloroform on Glinda's glove caught the scream in his throat. He went down on the bed without a sound, and Glinda wrapped her glove up before washing her hands thoroughly.

"Boq won't be happy with how late we are." I told Glinda as she reemerged from cleaning up. I finished pressing a pink hand print to the left side of his face to match the green one on his right.

"Biq will be happy with what he gets." Glinda said firmly.

"It's Boq."

She waved her hand dismissively, "That's what I meant." She sighed with a frown at the man propped on the bed. "Let's get out of here. He gives me the creeps even when he's harmless."

We took the servants route out of the building. No one was ever in those when there was an event. All the servants were tending to the masses, and if anyone was fooling around, they were doing it on the employer's bed. Or somewhere where they could unsanitize what was supposed to be sanitary. Like the dining room table. At the exit, Glinda ditched the dress she had lifted off of whatever poor woman she was able to trick and slipped into the tunic and tights she usually wore after a job. I waited for her to get her cloak on before leading her out of the building. There were very few weapons she was good with and even fewer ones she allowed herself to touch. She was determined to learn sorcery instead, but so far all we had was magic books stacked in different corners but no magic even hiding in them.

So we walked side by side, on constant alert, because if someone were to try and attack us, I was the only one who could defend us. Until Glinda's magical abilities kicked in...

It couldn't have been more than fifteen minutes of something more than leisure walking before a series of whistles tied into a melody. Glinda slowed to a stop, glancing about. I waited a second before a final low whistle followed it.

"Orphans." I said into the night.

"Filthy stinkin' rich." Came an answer.

Glinda giggled, and I rolled my eyes as a man with long brown hair and a scruffy beard emerged from an alley.

"Looking a little scrappy there, Tenmeadows." I watched as Glinda threw her arms around his waist in a long hug.

"Looking a little green there, Grasshopper." He replied, kissing the top of Glinda's head before tearing himself away and pulling her over to me. "Didn't expect to see you two out tonight. It's supposed to rain." He explained.

"We don't melt." I sneered.

"Sugar melts and evil fades." He shrugged, earning another giggle from the blonde.

I shook my head and continued walking. I had no time for his frivolities. Let him indulge Glinda. He followed with Glinda clinging onto his hand like it was her last lifeline. I suppose, in some odd way, he was her last hope for a normal life one day. You didn't meet much honest people doing what we do. And no matter how sneaky and shady he seemed to be, Avaric was an honest man. Unfortunately, he showed as much interest in her as she showed in Boq. It was a funny little circle. Well, tragically funny.

"What are you doing here?" I asked when it was clear he would be with us for the night.

"I'll be more inclined to talk with a cup off coffee in my hands."

I shot him a look, but he just grinned back at me.

As I suspected, Boq was a bouncing mess of nerves when we finally walked over the threshold to the abandoned Corn Exchange. He let out a noise that was somewhere between a groan and a sigh of relief. For such a small person, he had such a wide range of emotions. And they came and went quickly. He rivaled Glinda's emotional stability most days. Tonight, his relief and agitation faded into a cool demeanor. He never cared for Avaric. Actually, he never cared for anyone Glinda took an attraction to. Avaric just happened to embody all the attributes that Glinda so loved: Rich, handsome, charming, and tall. I think it may have been the height that put Boq on edge. I gave him a sympathetic smile when he caught my gaze. He just shook his head and silently took the files Glinda blindly offered him.

"Do we have any coffee, Biq?" Glinda asked, fussing to make Avaric comfortable.

"I'll get it," I told them both. "Boq needs to run those files to the church. I'll have a cup waiting for you when you get back."

"I can wait another hour or so." Boq muttered with a sly look in Avaric's attention. It wasn't so sly, because a smirk pulled at Avaric's mouth. "To what do we owe your company, Avaric?" Boq acquiesced to a civil tone. "Don't tell me you murdered someone." There was a pleading edge to his last comment.

"Can't I visit my favorite trio?"

Boq and I squared him with a look.

"Calm yourselves," Avaric snickered. "I just need a place to rest my head until tomorrow evening, then I'll be on my way."

"Where are you headed?" Glinda looked at him as she ran a comb through her curls.

"The Vinkus."

We all frowned at him. Even Glinda.

"What's in the Vinkus?" I set a cup of coffee in front of him.

"Civil war."

"Oh?"

"The upcoming chieftain of the Arjiki is getting a little too big for his britches already." Avaric said after taking a sip of his coffee. "The other Winkies aren't too happy with some changes he's started making, so they're thinking it's time for a regime change. So I was approached and paid half up front for my services." His smirk deepened. "Elphaba, you know how I love to help the minorities."

"Avaric," Glinda took a few paces away from him, and Boq noticeable relaxed. "That's not a job, that's an assassination."

"Don't tell me you two haven't offed a fiend or two in your time." He turned a dark glare on Glinda, "Especially you."

"We kill when we have to, we don't go looking for a murder." She snapped.

"Avaric, just think about what you're doing." I added. "You're not taking out a criminal, you're _murdering _the crowned prince."

"You're awfully quiet about this, Munchkin." Avaric shot at Boq.

"I, well..." He looked about at the three of us. "He's been on the watch list for some time." Boq mumbled, causing Avaric to laugh boastfully. Glinda stared at Boq like he'd just torched her favorite clothes. "Glinda," He tried to reason. "The man is just plain awful. His _file _is a blood bath. Humans and Animals alike." He added with a look in my direction.

"I want to see it," The blonde demanded.

Avaric and Boq shared a hesitant expression.

"Glinda," I spoke blindly for them. "You don't even like thinking about a messy fight, reading a file that's compared to a blood bath hardly seems like something you'd be able to stomach."

Glinda considered me for a moment before turning to Boq, "The file please." She held her hand out expectantly. "And I'd like the job file, too. If you're drinking our coffee and dirtying our couch, the least you can do is let me read the file." And since no one can deny the blonde, they handed over the files like she was asking for a pencil. "Boq, I suggest you run the files we got tonight to the church. Avaric, you sleep. Elphaba and I will be in the loft if you need us."

We stayed up all night reading and memorizing the files. Even if we wanted to sleep, the brutality of the Vinkun prince would have haunted every minute of slumber. So we kept ourselves up through the night, and by the time the sun was peeking over the horizon, Glinda had decided we were going to help Avaric kill the crowned prince.

**So? Thoughts? Should I keep going?**

**If I have any thread of your interest, you should leave a quick review:)**


	2. O-Positive

**Hello Readers! I'm sorry this has taken so long! The first half has been done for a while, but I wasn't sure how long I wanted Elphaba to be solo for**

**I made my boyfriend watch musicals with me all day today, so tomorrow we'll be watching action movies all day. What does this mean for you? Your favorite assassins will have some kick ass shit coming soon. **

**PM me if you find an inconsistency! I changed things. I checked but may have missed something.**

**Disclaimer: I own all four books in the Wicked series. **

Boq stayed behind. He hardly ever came on long excursions with us even though he was far better with weaponry than either of us. He lived to study each weapon he had yet to come across. It allowed him to communicate with the instrument on a deeper level rather than it just being a means to an end. I think it helped him cope with what he was doing. Glinda coped by knocking our victims out first, making sure they were unconscious. Only a few times did we ever have to do serious harm to an Ozian who was wide awake. Avaric refused to call his victims by names. There was power in a name. Having a name gave you a person, and he couldn't think of who the job was as a person as he was completing what he was paid to do. I tried to make it as clean as possible. I didn't have a problem with blood, but the person who finds them might, and I can't be held responsible for that much emotional damage. Boq, though, needs the job to be quick.

So he stayed at the Corn Exchange, researching weapons of the West. There were possibilities we'd be caught without the weapons we brought, so if we needed to improvise, Boq had already thought of things we could us that were handy in Winkie Country. If he finds anything of use to us, he'll send it with one of the Avians we've come to befriend in the City. They're the quickest form of communication we have, and they always travel in decent sized groups. That way if one of them falls, another will takes its place to carry out the task. The Birds always know how to find us. To be fair, it's not hard to miss a green girl and a blonde decked out in pink threads. It worried me how ignorant people were at times. Glinda and I were hardly ever not together, pink and green, just like the handprints we tag with; but no one ever connects the dots when papers come out saying that we had struck again. One time a waitress at a café made a joke saying that the the two vigilantes probably painted themselves the colors they printed on someone. Her stupidity stuck, and now people assume that the two doing the jobs actually paint themselves up before going out.

"If you run into any trouble, you can send the crow away." Avaric told me, calling over an indifferent looking bird. "Glinda and I will have its mate."

"What good will a crow do me if I need help?" I frowned at the bird resting on his arm.

"He'll stay with you, and if something happens to you, he'll come to make sure his mate is okay." He explained. "He's done it before, he'll do it again."

Avaric and Glinda were going ahead of me. We had taken a carriage together from the City, and we were now stopped at a nunnery near the Gillikin River. It's where we would part. The two of them would arrive a week before me, scouting the castle Kiamo Ko as Avaric Tenmeadows, son of the Margreave of Tenmeadows, and his betrothed. The royal family was expecting them as last minute guests. Glinda was beside herself. Anyway, we had it planned out. They would keep up the path by carriage through the Gillikin and then the Fanarras, and I would brave the elements of the landscape in the Vinkus itself. It wasn't my favorite plan, but I was the best choice for the solo trip. I could handle being alone for that amount of time, and I was more than capable of handling the wilderness that Glinda so hated.

"I gave you a couple of my daggers, just in case," Avaric was saying. "We're taking half of your arrows with us, but Glinda left you a bottle of chloroform tucked in a pair of your socks." He scratched his head. "Be careful."

I stared at him. "Careful, Tenmeadows, someone might think you care." I said as I ran a check of my weapons one last time.

He grabbed my elbow, "Seriously." Avaric mumbled. My hand skirted over the dagger at my hip. "The Yunamata and Scrow will show no mercy to murder and blame it on the Arjiki brat."

"I'll show you no mercy if you hurt Glinda." I yanked my arm back as I took a few steps away from him. "I've been well trained." I added, crossing my arms and glaring at the brute.

He just smirked back at me while watching me like a cat who just found a mouse. Glinda had been quite smitten with Avaric from the moment we met him on one of our first jobs. He had a partner back then. I don't know his real name, but everyone knew him as Axe. We'd only met him twice before Avaric had some nasty cuts on his face, and Axe was a nameless face in the City's obituaries. Anyway, Glinda and I had just been getting into a grove, memorizing our weapons, our techniques, and engraining the city map into our brains. Avaric and Axe were no different. Boq gave us a job and told us not to be surprised if there was another team joining us, because the job was supposed to be too big to weigh on the hearts of two people. We had figured the team would be older and more experienced, so imagine our surprise when we ducked into the basement of the charge's house to find two half naked young men changing into disguises. Axe showed us all his glory, and Avaric left room for the imagination. After that, Glinda dreamed about him like Winkies dream of civilization.

"Fine." I jerked away from him and mounted Baumer. I clicked my tongue at the beast. The crow fluttered up from where it was perched. "I'll see you in a week."

"Watch for the handprint." Avaric called before I was out of earshot. I held my hand up, signalling that I heard him.

The first half of the trip passed without incident. It was easy to walk in the shadows at night, shielded by my cloak and protected by my bow and arrow. Stealing hours in the day to sleep was trickier. Some of the trees were more...animated than others, something we did not have back in the City, so I had to be careful where I stepped and where I decided was an idea location to sleep in. Most of the trees proved rather accommodating. Every so often, one of them would throw down a green apple several feet from me. The first time it happened, I have to admit, I was a little offended. Just because I'm green doesn't mean I have a need to eat green things. But you learn to take peace offerings as they come, so I ate the apples they supplied, even though apples were my lease favorite fruit. Boq always told visitors who inquired about what food they could bring their hosts that I was allergic apples. We haven't had someone bring us an apple pie in years. It's been delightful.

As I got closer to Kiamo Ko, though, in the last leg of my journey, I noticed the increase in difficulty to actually get there. The terrain changed from forest to hills to mountains so fast that there was no way magic wasn't involved to increase the difficulty. No way. Not only the terrain, but there seemed to be an increase of unwelcome traffic. Rough looking men with the Vinkun crest sewn into their sleeve passed me each time I raised my eyes or glanced about. I did my best to blend in. Being green didn't faze their judgement of me, thankfully. Some of them were their own strange colors, or had strange patterns branding them, so my color hardly seemed odd. But the fact that I was loaded with different weapons would raise alarms if I were to get caught for some reason.

"How much for the crow?" Someone asked me as I passed through a makeshift settlement at the Great Kells.

"He's not for sale." I mumbled, possessively putting a hand next to where his talons were situated on my shoulder.

My heart skipped a beat when the stranger grabbed my elbow and repeated the question. I didn't like surprises. Shooting a quick glance about, I swiftly shoved the stranger against the wall while bringing up a dagger to his throat at the same time.

"And I said, he's not for sale." I hissed. "In case you didn't hear me the first time." I added, pressing the cold, merciless metal to his throat even more. Of course I wasn't going to kill him, but it never hurt anyone to put the fear of Oz into some pest.

The stranger scrambled away, apologizing for not hearing me correctly the first time, and the crow and I were on our merry way into the Kells.

A day and a half later, I strapped my bows across my back and started towards the smoke that I'd spotted. It lead to a small, makeshift camp situated near enough to the bank of the river but not close enough to be clearly visible to a passing boat. Although, the smell of the smoke gave the camp away. I kept my hood drawn and stayed in the shadows as I looked over the area. There were two lumps on either side of the fire, I assumed they were sleeping, but I kept on high alert still. One of them seemed to be using their satchel as a pillow while the other's was close to his or her side. I walked most of the perimeter (as much as the cover of the shadows would allow me) several times before squatting down and waiting. I just needed to watch them and listen for any movement in the wood. I could hardly believe they were unguarded. Surely even Winkie couldn't be _that _dumb.

Apparently they could, though. Nothing but night noise came from the wood around me. So I took a couple cautious steps into the small camp. I could feel Avaric's dagger pressing against my thigh with every step I took, and I contemplated switching from the bow and arrow to the dagger. I wasn't allowed to be reckless, though. My bow and arrow allowed me to evaluate before letting go, but with the dagger it was do now, think later. If I made a wrong move, I could give Glinda and Avaric away before they had even started. No. I needed to stick with the arrows. They were what I was good at, they were what I was trained with, and they were what I would use unless the moment called for-

I stopped suddenly at the sound of a twig snapping. And there it was. Winkies weren't that stupid. It's silly, really. Boys are told all the time that silence always follows after a dead giveaway. You think it's cliché, that things don't actually happen that way; but they do. It's the split second when the stalked and the stalker have to make their split decision. Both of them are weighing their options and deciding what to do in the given situation. The stalker has to be quick on their feet, because no one is ever expecting to be caught. The stalked has to be quick to find a getaway. That's what was happening. After another second of silence I let my arrow pierce one of the lumps.

A loud laugh came from behind me. I can't lie, it startled me a bit.

I assumed the same person who laugh was speaking as I moved to retrieve my arrow. I didn't recognize the language, though. Which says nothing about my ability to blend in with my jobs. I was more than capable of speaking any of the seven languages recognized by the Ozian government. What the person behind me was speaking, though, was not a language taught nor commonly used.

"If you move, I will kill you." The person, a man by the sound of his voice, said with a thick Vinkun accent. Oh.

"If you kill me, I have friends who will make sure the decision haunts you for the rest of your life." I answered, my eyes flickering around for Avaric's crow.

"Where are you from?"

"Oz."

"Smart ass." My lips quirked up.

"Are you a Winkie?"

"Arjiki, if you don't mind."

I withdrew my hood and put my hands up, "I have enough weapons to kill you several different ways in the blink of an eye," I told him. "I won't use them as long as you don't use the weapons you have."

"You've already gone and shot my companion." The Arjiki man behind me said with a laugh. I frowned at the lump. "I think it'd be fair to cause you some damage."

"Your _friend_ is obviously layered up, and my arrow didn't strike that deep." I replied. "And that's assuming someone is actually in there. I'm betting that, by the lack of movement, your companion is nothing more than a pile of leaves."

The speaker came around from behind me to meet me face to face. He had a great smirk on his face. Which was all fine and well, but I was more interested in the three light blue diamond patterns that adorned his tanned face. He was someone important. To the Vinkus, at least. Glinda and I had read a long time ago that the diamonds were significant to the Vinkun people, and blue was specific to the Arjiki. I never really cared why or what they meant. But now it irked me a little that I let my indifference to the Winkies keep me from learning something that could be valuable. I mean, what are the chances of running into some important figure in Winkie culture in the wilderness? Nevertheless, here I was.

"Baako," The Winkie offered me a hand.

I took it slowly. He wanted me to introduce myself? Was that customary here?

"Baako." I repeated and took his hand hesitantly. I wasn't comfortable telling him my name, but he didn't press it.

"I'm right in assuming you're not out for a nightly stroll?"

"If you're hiding from someone, you're not doing a good job. I could see your smoke from a mile away."

"Curiosity killed the cat."

"It's working pretty well for me." I said then added, "Who are you to the Vinkus?"

"Who are you?"

"The calm before the storm."

Baako tensed up for a moment before taking on a nonchalant attitude. "You're here to kill Fiyero." He stated rather than asked.

"There's a problem, and I need to fix it." I told him.

"I'm not the enemy."

"Every stranger is an enemy."

"Then let's be friends." Baako smiled. I bet under different circumstances, to different women, he was quite charming. I could easily see the similarities between him and Avaric, which made me cautious to trust him.

I paused, considering my options. "Can you give me information?"

"Friends gossip." He shrugged, still holding my hand. "But I can't give information away to an assassin."

"I'm not an assassin." He laughed at me, and I bristled up. "I fix problems. I'm a fixer. When situations call for it, lives can be spared." Baako studied me seriously for a while. "Look, we both know you know something, so killing you would be counterproductive. And unnecessary. So I'm obviously not going to do it." I paused. "Unless you give me a reason to. Doesn't that make us friends already?"

"I do like the way you think, Miss," Baako let go of my hand and had a weapon I had never seen or heard of pointed center on my forehead. I could feel it's cool barrel pressing against my skin, and it sent waves of fear rippling through me. "However, I don't know you name, and you haven't given me a reason to trust you."

"Nor none not to." I added hastily.

He nodded but his finger danced over the trigger.

"My name is Elphaba." I spat out on the border of desperation. "I'm a Munchkin by birth, that's all I know of where I'm from. I'm not here to kill Fiyero, but I know who is." I should have stopped there. "But I can't say I don't support the taking out of such a vile man."

Baako laughed again, but he took his weapon away from my forehead. I almost peed myself in relief.

"How about this, Elphaba of Munchkinland," Baako took a moment to put out the fire. "For your comfortability, we share equal information? After we get a good night's rest."

I stared at him, letting my eyes adjust to the sudden darkness.

"For every question one person answers, the other has to answer that same question." He explained the next morning after I checked my weapons and body to make sure I was in the same condition I was the previous night, if not better. "So we've shared names and where we're from. Just practice honesty. You assassins can be honest, right?"

"I'm not an assassin." I frowned at him, petting the crow as Baako looked up at the rain clouds that were threatening to ruin the last day of my journey.

"Oh, well, I'm sure you'll tell the truth elsewhere." Baako winked at me and started in a direction, so I followed. "For the record, I'm not here to kill Fiyero, either. I don't know who is, but I can say I don't support the taking out of such an idiot."

"What are you doing out here?"

"Protecting my baby brother." Baako nodded. "He's got himself into some serious cow pies, and I'm doing our late parents a favor and looking out for him. Protecting him from afar." Baako scratched the back of his neck and bit his bottom lip, lost in his thoughts. "You?"

"Those friends I mentioned," I said and he nodded again. "They've gone ahead of me. It's a system when we work together. They get to do wedge the door. I'd cause too much suspicion."

"Huh." He thought for a moment, grinning at me when I caught his gaze. He was quite attractive for a Winkie. Arjiki. Whatever. "What's your favorite color, Miss Elphaba?"

I staggered and did a skip step to catch back up. "Be serious."

"Can't say I've ever heard of that color before." He smirked. "What hue does it most look like? Green? Blue?"

"You want to know my favorite color?"

"Is that your question?"

I rolled my eyes, "Black."

"Black's not a color."

"Pick another question then."

"Oh, come on." Baako laughed. "There's no harm in knowing your favorite color but fine. I'll play your way. Are you working for someone, or is this personal?"

"There's more where I come from." I mumbled.

"It's personal for me." I figured.

Neither of us said anything for a while. We just kept walking in the direction Kiamo Ko was in. It wasn't uncomfortable, I actually enjoyed it a lot. Baako talked more than your average person, and I'd rather keep to my thoughts. Especially if he wanted to talk about trivial things like colors and celebrity gossip. Besides, I had a plan that I needed to stick to. I was waiting for my window. It came at nightfall when we reached the village in the valley before the foreboding Kiamo Ko castle.

"I'm going to take a piss." Baako said unashamed when we came upon a patch of bushes in the dissipating shroud of trees.

"Okay." I told him, setting the crow free to fly quietly for a couple hot seconds. I reached in my bag and grabbed a pair of socks when Baako looked for the perfect place to ruin the bush. I quickly shot a dull arrow in the direction the crow took off. It didn't hit him, but it scared him well enough to make enough noise to cover the sound of the arrow hitting the ground. "Shit," I hissed, my back facing Baako and my weapon hidden from view. "My damn bird took off that way." I explained with a look over my shoulder. Baako regarded me with a nod and a glance before letting his stream start.

I kicked the dirt and started one way before coming back.

Baako was good, but I was better. The second I made myself known to him, he had a knife slicing my outer thigh. The yelp I produced was mostly suppressed by the crook of Baako's neck as I pressed myself tight to him with one arm around his neck and the other holding the chloroform soaked sock to his mouth. I scrambled away from him, hopping on one foot, as he hit the ground with a heavy thud.

My hand was shaking as I touched the wound on my leg. I carefully maneuvered back over to the fallen fool. I spit on him before using my bloodied hand to shove have his face in the wet mud he just left. He'd wake up to the smell of piss and dried O-positive.

"You must think I'm an idiot if I didn't come to Winkie Country without researching." I hissed, using the string of his pants to stop the bleeding of my leg. "What kind of assassin would I be then?"

Protecting his baby brother. I rolled my eyes.

"Oz-speed, Prince Baako."

**Still there? Curious as to what the hell is going on? Ready for Fiyero?**

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	3. Blue

**Thank you so much to everyone who's reading this!**

**I have a long chapter for you all!**

Moving around with a wounded leg proved to be more difficult than I had anticipated. While the makeshift turnikit I had tied was stopping the bleeding, nothing was stopping the pain. I had no numbing solution, no knowledge of practical magic or medicine, and no past experience to draw from. I had never had a run in like that. It was my own damn fault. I should have never stopped to check out that campsite. I would have been in the castle by now, and my leg would have been perfectly fine. There was no use pissing and moaning about it, though. What mattered now was getting into the castle. I needed to get there before I let any of my leg issues get the better of me. Once I was in company with Glinda and Avaric, I would be able to worry about my leg. So I had to work with the pain and the hit to my plan.

For being the stronghold of the Arjiki clan, and by extension, the stronghold of the Vinkus, Kiamo Ko was poorly guarded. I had a harder time escaping Baako than I did getting past the thick walls separating the main castle from the mountains surrounding it. What if they were at war? What would have happened? I could have had an army of a thousand trailing after me, and we would have just walked up like we owned the place. I sneered. Stupid Winkie barbarians. They deserved every misfortune that fell upon them. Anyway, I kept my hood drawn as a moved around the rock formations, looking for windows. Surely Winkies believed in those.

"...fun, they said." A gentle voice scoffed in the common Vinkun lanuage. The voice followed a bouncing lantern, and a man clad in ridiculous fur-lined outfit. I froze when he called out, "Maerae, is that you?" He took my stillness as an affirmation. "We've been looking al day for you. The Margreave was hoping you'd join him for a drink after dinner." I rolled my eyes.

I bowed my head. That meant something, right?

"You may as well go up and see if his bed's been warmed for you."

It took self control not to scoff or gag. This was the man Glinda was fawning over. This was the man Glinda spent hours talking about. Hours. And here he was, playing the part of her beloved, poking his stick in the first bush that rustles in the wind. He was a bastard, and Glinda had to be an idiot.

"Horrible Morrible reopened the staff entrance, so you can just take that way up." I nodded before he looked over his shoulder. "Hell of a lot better than dealing with that creepy doorman. If anyone asks, say you bring good news for the Margreave, and they'll point you in the right direction." I bowed my head and started walking towards the tower.

My stomach dropped when I reach the other side of the tower. Winkies were apparently smarter than I had given credit for. The tower, which I assumed was the castle, was not. It must have been a lookout. The castle was situated a mile away from me. I had to trek over a long, stone bridgeway.

"Of course." I hissed, glancing around in hope of finding something to ease the journey. "Come on, crow." I mumbled after finding nothing.

There was a blue handprint on one of the front windows of the middle level of the castle. My hands shook as one clutched the last wall that fortified the castle and the other applied pressure to the ever worsening wound. Clearly the Winkies were ready for any military attack. Avaric's crow knew we were close to his master. He had a whole new personality to him. He almost seemed excited. I'm not sure I could certainly call it excited, but he was much more active. I tied the dagger to his ankle and set him off to Avaric. I stared up at the window for a few more minutes, listening to the sounds around me, until light came from the room. I shrunk into the shadows again as the light grew closer to the window. And then a candle was set on the sill. Moving as quick as I possible could, I pushed off the wall and pulled myself through the first open window I found.

I used the end of my cloak to wipe off the blood smear I left on the window. It didn't take long for my eyes to adjust to the darkness. It was some kind of parlor. Pristine. It was completely different from the exterior. The furniture was made of glass. Even the floor was made of some type of material I would expect to see in the Emerald Palace. I bet Glinda's heels clanked annoyingly in this room. Thankfully my boots were silent, but the hobbling I was doing had me fearing that I was going to break something in here. I fisted my hand coated with blood behind my back and used the other to open the door. I held onto it for a while, listening to hear movement from the corridors. None came, though. I thought luck was with me. She got me to the castle and inside without much of an issue, but the more I was on my feet, the dizzier I became. Luck wasn't with me, she was just taunting my wound.

The room I needed to be in was on the second floor from ground level. Two flights are nothing. In the Emerald City with a proper leg. The Winkies, though, their flights are long. A staircase and a half the normal case. I was ready to drop by the time I reached the floor. I stayed, leaning against the wall, hidden by shadows, for a couple seconds before I figured my strength could hold up for the last several yards.

I bit back a yelp when a shot of pain hit me, knocking me off balance. I into a door beside me to keep myself upright, praying no one was behind that door. One more door. One more damn door. Leaving an unintended bloody fist print on the door, I pushed off and kept going.

"Holy shit, Fabala!" Avaric hissed when I tumbled through his door. "What the hell happened to you?" Really, I'd never been more happy to hear his voice.

"Where's Glinda?" I gasped out as he fumbled to get my cloak off. "Kick her out so you can sleep with Maerae?" I bit without much bite.

"How do you-" He started but a knock on the door cut him off. I frowned at it. Just pile the cliche up. "Yeah?" Avaric called out.

"Are you alright in there?" I stared at the door. It muffled the reply, but the voice was distinctly male.

"I'm good, Fiyero."

"There's blood on your door, my friend." I scowled at the closed door.

"I had a nose bleed," Avaric said without missing a beat. "I totally forgot about having someone clean it up." There were a few breaths of silence that Avaric used to try and quietly tear the material around the wound away. He let out a long, soft groan which Fiyero finally replied.

"It's wet blood." Avaric gave my good leg a gentle and apologetic squeeze before dragging himself up to the door. He opened it, using his body to block the prince's view, and placed his hands strategically so they wouldn't be seen casually. "The blood's wet." Fiyero repeated.

Casting a quick glance at Avaric's nail scratched back, I went back to freeing my leg from the restricting tights. Some of the blood dried so that my leg hairs were painfully attached to the material of my tights. I needed Boq. Boq was well researched in knowing what to do in this type of situation. Avaric and Glinda couldn't tell you the difference between bone and cartilage. Really, I was lucky that the baboon hadn't managed to kill me just by examining the wound. I tore the fabric vertically as Avaric was explaining to Fiyero that Gillikinese blood took hours to dry. He told him it was a phenomenon that scientists weren't able to explain. I managed to tear the fabric down my entire leg and up to the waistband by the time Avaric had convinced the idiot prince.

"You made friends with your charge?" I sneered when the baboon shut the door behind him.

"There's been a change of plans."

"What?" I snapped.

"I'll tell you about it tomorrow. Stay here, I'm going to get Glinda. Biq sent her with that ointment you all love."

"Boq."

"Stay."

Avaric fumbled about his room for a bit, looking for appropriate clothes to put on. He nearly looked dressed for the day before he finally hurried out of the room. I should have told him that Glinda would undress him with her eyes regardless of how many layers he was actually wearing; that would require further communication with him, though, and I just didn't care enough. My lack of care for Avaric and all my care for my leg had me using his pillow case to hold against my wound to try and stop the bleeding. It's not like he was going to be using it tonight anyway. They were going to fix me up, and I was not going to wait until tomorrow for them to tell me what this change of plan was. I'd be damned if I made that journey, ruined my leg, all for shits and giggles.

The wound, speaking of which, was relative. I couldn't decide if it was worse than what I expected or better than I expected. Maybe a little of both. The pain was not something I had forseen. I mean, yes, wounds typically hurt, and not getting help right away usually increases that pain, but it was an unnecessary amount. But the wound itself didn't seem so hard to stitch up. It was a clean cut, and my current ability to live told me that nothing major was cut. I had made it several hours since it happened. Surely something was saved. I turned my hands about, checking the dried blood on them. I bet it was all the blood making things seem worse than what they actually were. Once it was all cleaned up things would look practically normal.

I used my free hand to rid myself off my weapons, placing them behind me on Avaric's bed. The shoulder that carried most of the weight of the arrows felt bruised, but a cold cloth on the swelling would have me as good as new in no time. A little swelling was nothing Glinda and I hadn't faced before.

"Oh, Elphie!" Glinda crooned as she flew in the room in her nightgown and an expensive looking robe. "What happened?" She threw a bag of things onto the bed beside me and knelt over the wound. I almost shied away from her, fearing for my life, but she hardly left me any time to move for myself.

"I ran into the prince's brother." I explained to her as Avaric locked the door behind him. He had a pitcher of water with something floating on the top and a drinking glass. When I mentioned Baako, though, the two exchanged glances. "What? What is it?"

"Several days ago someone caught wind that there was a group of assassins on their way to the Vinkus from the City." Avaric said as Glinda cleaned the wound with something from that bag of hers. "Fiyero's Grand Vizier sent Baako out to cut them off before they reached Red Windmill."

"Fiyero has an older brother and- Glinda!" I gasped, cutting off my first train of though. "You're supposed to close it, not further open it!" Do you see? Do you see why I don't let these people near my person?

"Yes," Avaric nudged Glinda out of the way and tried his own hands at being a medic. "Fiyero has an older brother. He's a half brother, though, from the late King's previous marriage. Fiyero's mother was the previous Arjiki chieftain, making the throne rightfully his."

"That being said, though," Glinda cut in. Avaric managed to clean the wound without further ruining my leg. "We don't think that Fiyero is actually aware of what any of his proclamations are actually doing."

"What?"

"Well, he knows that his rulings are killing people, but we think his Grand Vizier has the cover so far over his head that he thinks he's doing what's best for his nation." Avaric said, applying ointment to the wound and lightly blowing on it.

"Which, we've come to find, really means something to the Vinkuns, Elphie."

"And this changes our plans…"

"We think the Grand Vizier is the hand that rocks the cradle."

Avaric twisted an alcohol soaked cloth around the needle to sanitize it as he said, "We also are beginning to think that she may be the one who put the hit on Fiyero."

I took the clean sock Glinda offered me to bite on while Avaric stitched me up. I mumbled I'd kill him if he messed up. Avaric just grinned and pressed the needle to my skin. The two of them let the silence settle, letting me take in the information. They hadn't outright said it, but I assumed we were not going to be taking out the prince. I also assumed we'd be doing research. I could do that. We could keep on pretending like I wasn't part of this equation, so while Glinda and Avaric rubbed elbows and kissed asses, I could do the behind the scenes work. It would allow me to stay in constant contact with Boq, which was always welcome.

It felt like barely a poke once Avaric stuck the needle through. I mean, it stung, but the pain of the actual wound was more predominant than the pain from the needle.

Baako was an issue, though. He knew where I was headed, and he knew what I was going to do. The only thing playing in my favor with Baako was the amount of guests here. Any of them could be the friends I mentioned. Aside from that, in the work we do, we're told to trust our first instinct. Baako had plenty of chances to kill me, and I was alive. He could have easily killed me when I attacked him, but he only left me with a flesh would. The prince's Grand Vizier may have sent Baako out to cut off an attack before it happened, but clearly Baako was playing by his own rules. He wouldn't have taken me as far as Red Windmill if he planned on killing me.

"I'll sneak down to the kitchens and fetch you some food." Glinda said, squeezing my arm as Avaric stopped halfway through to make sure the stitches were done correctly. For the sake of his future children, he better hope they're done correctly. "The night chef fancies me, so I'm sure I could get some decent, edible food for you. Some of their dishes are quite strange. And I'll be sure to get you no meat. I'm not convinced the Winkies know the difference between Animals and animals. I had to tell them that I have this allergy that—"

"Glinda," Avaric cut her off. "Food now. Please."

"Right." Glinda chirped then breezed out the door.

"Baako knows that we're here because of Fiyero." I told Avaric just to take my mind off of the pain.

"I'm not too worried about that." Avaric mumbled. "I don't think he's the enemy. He may be useful to us. Glinda and I noticed it within the first day, there's something not right about this place, this situation, these people."

"Baako mentioned Fiyero's got himself in some serious trouble." Avaric nodded. "Would I be right in assuming he's talking about the Grand Vizier?"

"I think so." Avaric confirmed. "Fiyero…the guy is not the sharpest tool in the shed." Obviously. "He looks good, and he has the blood right to be in the position he is. The guy has no power ambition, though. He likes boobs, boots, and brews. He can tell you what's in any given concoction, but you ask him what makes the Vinkun economic plan so different from the rest of Oz's, he couldn't tell you what the difference in currency is."

"So we have an idea of a new plan?"

"We need to keep Fiyero safe."

I stopped his hand, "We don't personally protect people, Tenmeadows. That's not the job."

Avaric pressed on the wound that he had stitched up so far. My groan caught in my throat, fighting for freedom with my yelp. I grabbed Avaric's wrist, but he just pressed harder.

"We do what we do to keep people like his Grand Vizier out of power." I clenched my jaw as he pressed a little harder. "And if that means playing secret service for a spoiled brat, that's what I'm going to do. This isn't your case, you and Glinda can leave. You convince her to go, and I'll see you out safely."

"Glinda's easily-"

"You read his file, Elphaba!" He knocked everything from his nightstand in one quick motion. I stayed stock still. "You read _her _file. How can you not want to do everything you possibly can to help this province. We take care of him, and she'll start a civil war here until no place isn't coated with Vinkun blood."

I ignored Avaric and started stitching myself back up. He let out a string of curse words and started scrubbing the blood and grime from his hands with a basin and rag in the corner. Glinda came back in after the idiot has scrubbed himself clean and was looking through the wardrobe for something to wear. She glanced over at him then me and sighed as she put a plate of cheese, crackers, and exotic fruit on the now clear nightstand.

"I don't know why you two can't just get along." She mumbled.

"Glinda," I said, finishing up the stitching and wrapping it up. "We have cases back in the City that are better suited to our training. We don't need to stay here."

Glinda stared at me and then turned to Avaric, "Is she serious?"

"Yes, I'm serious!" I snapped.

"Elphie!" Glinda rounded on me after I struggled to my feet. "Elphie." She got quiet and calm. "Do you remember that man who only hired Animals to work for him?"

Avaric watched us intently as I bristled and Glinda smirked smugly. He hired them, kept them for a month or two then killed them. He claimed he released them, but no one ever hear from or saw them again. I tied him to the chair he interviewed them in and shot ten arrows into him before killing him with the eleventh. He killed eleven. Boq didn't let me take another case for a month. I made sure to keep my anger in check after that. That month of no cases really hurt our income. Especially since we were not paid the hefty check we were supposed to be paid for taking care of him. They mentioned something about overkill. Whatever that is.

"What about him?" I growled.

"This is that case for Avaric."

"Then it's his case."

"Why don't you want to be part of this?" Glinda asked, frowning at me as Avaric brought out a dress for her to wear. "Are you really that prejudice against the Winkies?" I didn't remind her of the irony of that statement. "Unless you can convince me this is a mistake, we're staying."

"Are we decided then?" Avaric asked impatiently.

We were going to regret it. I had a feeling. We were going to regret this.

"Avaric and I have complied a lot of notes about the people here, about Fiyero, and about just nearly everything." Glinda's voice took on a breezy tone.

I threw my hands up in defeat. Fine. Fine.

"We already told Fifi we're expecting you." Glinda beamed. "He's certainly excited to meet Avaric's oldest friend."

"You fall under one of his favorite Bs." Avaric was so smug.

"I brought a couple dresses for you. I know you don't like anything with too much fabric or color, but I like both of those things. So I came up with a compromise. Fabric with dark colors."

"I'm not wearing a dress." I refuse. I'd rather pretend to be a man.

"Oh, yes you are." Glinda giggled.

"I'll chafe."

"I promise I won't make any comments about it next time I'm down there." Avaric grinned widely. It didn't go away even after Glinda and I both leveled him with a glare.

.

Kiamo Ko had five floors. The first floor was common areas like the dining hall, the banquet room, the throne room, the kitchens, and a parlor. The second and third floor were guest quarters. The fourth floor housed the Grand Vizier. The fifth floor was not used. It had been Fiyero's parents area, but it was untouched ever since his father passed. I quickly learned that Fiyero himself had an entire tower to himself, the West tower, but he only used it to bathe and cloth himself. He often slept in guests beds while pretty women were in said bed. Or he crashed in alleyways behind taverns. Or in a local woman's bed. Several times they found him in nonconventional places like stairs, benches, the fountain in the courtyard, and one time on top of a stack of hay in the barn with the livestock. This was the man we were protecting. This idiot was the one we were risking our necks to protect against a mess he put himself in. What was I doing with my skills? Fueling a fool. A damn fool.

I poked my head out of Avaric's room about an hour after the sun rose. The two of them left me to my own devices after Glinda bathed me in the most ridiculous scent I'd ever encountered. I don't even know what it was called. She said it was native to the Vinkuns, and it would give me brownie points with 'Fifi'. I could care less about the fruit concoction or who it would earn the favor of. It foamed and was absolutely unnecessary. Hounds would be able to track me for miles because of it. I smelt like a prissy princess. I smelt like Glinda. I didn't even know where I was supposed to be going. They said the foyer outside the dining hall, but in this castle, that could be anywhere. Obviously the first floor. But that's as much as I could go off of.

And this damn dress. I didn't do dresses. The last time I wore a dress was at Axe's funeral. Even then, it was more of a frock. Glinda put me in a dress. Biting the bullet, I grabbed the extra pain rememdy from the night stand and stuck it between my breasts and slammed Avaric's door behind me.

I should have stayed in.

"You're not Maerae." I stared at the man in front of me. The half naked man, might I add. Half naked prince. Half naked prince Fiyero. I may or may not have understood why women were so quick to let him jump in their bed. Maybe.

"Hi." I choked out. Hi. Hi?

An easy smile pulled at his lips. I was making myself sick. An easy smile? Does the dictionary even have a definition of easy smile. Nonetheless, he replied back with the same.

"I'm not Maerae." I was killing myself. "I hadn't realized she was passed around so easily."

The prince laughed. And oh Oz, why wasn't partial nudity illegal here? It was barbaric. Him standing there like that, shirtless, without a shirt on. Really, I rationalized, my reaction to seeing him in person was quite logical. Yes.

"I was just coming to make sure she wasn't still in bed." He said, the smile still in place on his unfairly attractive face. "She didn't show up for her morning report, and I wanted to make sure she was alright."

"In Avaric's room while your shirtless?" At least I was starting to sound like a normal person.

The prince's smile widened. Come on now. "You must be Miss Elphaba." He offered his hand.

"Oh, good for you, you know your colors."

"I'm fairly acquainted with sharp tongues, too."

"I bet you are." His smile faltered, and like the absolute idiot I am, I fumbled to pick it back up. "But yes, Miss Elphaba." I took his hand but pulled it back when he went to kiss it. I would have ended up a pile of green goo at his feet. I was protecting my dignity and his appetite.

"Fiyero." I pursed my lips when pressed a hand to his abdomen and bowed his head. "It's a pleasure." I also noticed how he didn't preceed his name with his title. "Avaric said your caravan ran into some trouble along the Kells?" Really? We were going to stand here and have small talk like this? Me in a dress and him in a pair of underwear?

"It wasn't as bad as it may sound." I told him. "Everyone should embrace the situations life presents."

"And new people." He added. Oh Oz. Kill me now. Put me out of this misery.

"And new people." I agreed, allowing a small smile.

"Well," Fiyero looked around. "I'm assuming Maerae is not in there." I shook my head. "I should go get dressed. I'm sure I'll see you at breakfast in a little bit."

"Of course." I nodded.

I watched Fiyero retreating back and caught his gaze twice when he cast a couple glances over his shoulder on his way to the staircase. Lovely. Just lovely.

"Prince!" I called before he disappeared. What was I doing? I was an idiot. Just beind around the idiot prince was causing me to lose my own brain cells. "Prince Fiyero," I corrected, moving to catch up with him. I was pathetic. Pathetic.

"You can call me Fiyero." He smiled again. Stop.

"Fiyero," I should have been ashamed of myself. "I noticed a pasture in the back of the castle." He looked at me, waiting for me to go on. I didn't even know. Where was I going with that? Where could you go with that? So instead of running with it like a normal person would do, I completely switched gears and asked instead, "How do I get to the dining hall?"

He laughed again and told me I could take the staircase on the otherside of this floor to the first floor, turn left and keep going until I came to the first archway on my right and that was the foyer before the hall.

"And, Miss Elphaba, that pasture is the Thousand Year Grasslands. It's a great place to sit and count stars."

"Sounds wonderful."

"It's even better with company."

"I hardly know Maerae."

Fiyero grinned. "She's so evasive, I'm not sure you could find her, let alone pin her down for more than a minute."

I shrugged, "Well, then, hopefully someone more bare will be there to count them with me."

He licked his lips, and I smiled back innocently. "I'll see you at breakfast, Miss Elphaba."

There were more guests than I had anticipated. I understood that the Winkie's reunification day was a grand day for them, but I hadn't realized that it other people were so invested in it. Important people from all over Oz were waiting for the chefs to be ready with breakfast. Even two couples from Quadling Country were here, and Quadlings hardly ever made appearances out of the South. People had tendencies to treat them as second class citizens even more so than the Winkies. They were discriminated against based on their odd skin tone. Not that I had any room to say what is and isn't odd. I really hoped we were seated near them. Regardless of the color of their skin, I loved their accents. The language was so soft but not very beautiful. Their accents, though, when they were speaking the general Ozian language was something to listen to. Other than the Quadling couples, four from the Gillikin were present, five from Munchkinland, and six from the other two clans of the Vinkus and two representatives from the Emerald City. Most of them seemed amiacable enough. Although, just from overhearing their conversation, the Governor of Munchkinland and his daughter seemed a bit uptight.

"That Quadling with the short dark hair is the Grand Countess." I stiffened at the voice in my ear. "The man next to her is her first son, and the other couple is her daughter and daughter's beloved. The Governor of Munchkinland and his pretty daughter. Poor thing's been in a wheelchair since birth. The munchkin is the mayor of one of their pitiful towns, the plump woman is his wife and the girl, their daughter. Their son ran away when he was in primary school, so they never let the girl out of their sight. The Gillikenese couple with the blonde hair are the Duke and Duchess; they like to think they're more important than they actually are. Then your friends, of course. Are you keeping up?"

I hummed in assent.

"The three by Fiyero are Takoda, Polon, and Razza. Polon and Razza are the children of the ambassador of the Scrow-he's over there-and Takoda's the future Yunamata chieftain. His head of militia and advisor are over there by Fiyero's Grand Vizier. Note the palor expression on their face, you'll notice it on anyone who talks to the woman." He came to stand by my side as he finished. "How's your leg?"

"How's your pride?"

"Touche." Baako grinned like kid who just got away with a lie. "Do you always attack your friends, or do I just hold a special place in your heart?"

"A little hazing never hurt anyone." I smirked at Baako, hoping to catch someone's eye who would save me from this conversation. I went so far as to hope for the religious Munchkins to interfere.

"Have you gotten the information you neded?"

I barely shrugged, still looking for someone to look at me.

"I got some information." Baako whispered even softer. I sent a side glance in his direction. "You should have knocked me out longer, because a man can find out a lot in a short amount of time."

"You're bluffing."

"Master Baako!" I blinked as Glinda's sing song voice broke into the conversation. She and Avaric, fresh faced and bushy tailed, came over, greeting Baako welcomingly like they were old pals. "How was your journey? Avaric's Miss Elphaba, here, just arrived from a journey herself. It was such a terricous thing, though," Glinda explain as she held onto my arm. I tried to stay relaxed, but I could feel people eyeing us as Glinda went on with her pleasantries. This was why we worked as a team on one day jobs. Glinda was a bubble that lured people into the shadows, and I was the monster hiding within. I did _not _interact with people. "The caravan got caught up in the Kells. Awful thing." Glinda patted my arm affectionately. I gave a tight lipped smile.

"I do recall passing a caravan. And I thought I had seen a woman with green skin, but I simply thought it was a trick of the eye. It is such an unsual skin tone. I've only heard rumors of another who was...blessed with that same color." He smirked at us.

"And I recall seeing a Winkie face down in his own piss, but I'm sure that wasn't you."

"Elphaba, please." Avaric mumbled. I smirked at Baako.

"They should be serving soon." Baako said. "Perhaps I'll see you three in the library later. We have an extensive collection on weaponology that's much more interesting that you'd think." He bowed slightly and made his way towards his brother.

"You're the reason we can't have nice things." Glinda mumbled under her breath.

"If he's not the enemy then we have no reason to fret over my tongue."

"You can turn a great friend into an even greater enemy with a tongue like that."

"This tongue has wedged alone time with the prince," I spat quietly. "I doubt either of you can say that."

Avaric snickered, "I can honestly say I have not used my tongue to appeal to Fiyero."

I scowled, "Not like that."

"You've spent alone time with Fiyero?" Glinda asked. I frowned at the bitterness and jealousy hanging on her words. Was that necessary? He was nothing more than loose moral prince. Hardly anything to get in a bind over.

"For the job, of course." I clarified. "I'm not convinced we're doing the right thing, so who better to convince me than the job himself?"

"He can be very persuasive." Avaric winked suggestively. Glinda's eyes narrowed.

"Glinda, honestly, do you really think I'd allow anything to happen? I could never lower myself to fraternize with an imbecile." Glinda eyes me skeptically. "If I would have wanted to get involved with a barbarian, I would have succumb to Avaric ages ago."

"Gee, thanks. You really know how to charm a guy."

"Be serious, Glinda." I raised my eyebrows, ignoring Avaric. "I take my work seriously and our friendship even more. I wouldn't do anything to jepordize our income or relationship. You know that."

She said I was right, but that didn't stop her from ignoring me all through the meal. I sat wedged between Avaric and the Mayor of Rush Margins; I think his name was Master Bfee. He was a chatty little thing-no pun intended. Although, I have to admit, I was quite interested in everything he was saying. After he made several comments and asked even more questions on my skin tone, at least. Bfee, I'm sure that's how he introduced himself, talked about the constantly decaying state of Rush Margins. He said that it had once been thriving, but after the Great Drought and the Wizard's subsequent laws, the village had been decaying and fast. His wife, Gawnette, mumbled something about no politics at mealtimes, but Bfee hosh poshed her and turned back to me. I nodded encouragingly at him. We hardly ever hear news from Munchkinland in Emerald City. There's never a job there we take care of, so there's really no reason to learn of their current events. Bfee was more than happy to fill me in when I told him that I didn't have much time for news with my job. He didn't ask questions about my line of work, just jumped into what was happening in Munchkinland.

Bfee's daughter sat across from us with the Governor's daughter. The two of them just stared at me. I was aware of it through the serving of the coffee and then the beard. When the staff brought out the eggs, the food stole most of their attention, but I still tensed each time the Governor's daughter leaned over to whisper something into Bfee's daughter's ear.

Glinda, of course, sat up towards the head of the table with Fiyero. I wondered how long that arrangement had been going on for and what kind of image it presented. I rolled my eyes as the sound of her laugh reached my ears. She was going to get us caught with her easy jealousness and flighty attractions.

"Stop staring or you'll call attention to yourself." Avaric muttered under his breath.

"I don't have to do anything to get attention." I grumbled.

"Don't look so upset either." He added sharply. "Just ignore Glinda, ignore the attractive prince, and smile like you're just pleased to be in my company."

"Tough crowd?" I hadn't even shut the door, leaving after claiming I felt ill, before I was bombared with even more unwanted attention.

"I guess you could say that." I looked at the other situated by the window that overlooked where the Thousand Year Grasslands turned into hills and mountains. I hadn't even noticed her leave the dining hall. It couldn't have been that long ago. I joined her at the window, sitting in one of the available arm chairs. "What about you?"

"I just needed a little peace of mind before all the diplomatic meetings start."

"I can't imagine they're very entertaining." I played along, and she shook her head. "It was awful that my caravan was delayed, but I can't say I'm unhappy about missing some of the meetings Avaric's had."

She laughed; it sounded so delicate, even more than Glinda's could sound. "From what I hear, Master Avaric's meetings have less of a diplomatic mindset to them."

I cracked a smile, "I wouldn't be surprised."

She fell silent again, just looking out at the landscape. If she noticed me staring at her, she never commented on it.

"We don't have such scenery change in Munchkinland," She told me as if explaining why she was so intent to look outside. "It's mostly farmland, and a hill or two if you're lucky to venture far enough South or Northwest. I just like how the Vinkus has all these extremes that mesh together. Did you know there's a desert just North of here? They seem to have everything here. It's a nice change."

"I've lived in Emerald City all my life," I told her. "I can understand the wanting to see something different." She smiled at me again.

"Do a lot of people ask you about your pigmentation?" I bit my tongue to keep from rolling my eyes, so I just nodded in silence. "So then, if you could travel anywhere in Oz, free of expense, where would you go?"

I returned her smile without hesitance, "I'm Elphaba." I told her offering my hand.

"Nessarose."

**Please, please, please review! I get so bored during the day, and your comments really brighten it! **

**If you like it, but you're like 'Hey, WC, I dig it, but I really don't know what to say.' I totally get it. My answer is emoticons. A picture is worth a thousand words!  
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	4. Imprint

**Hello! Thank you for much for all the support! It really means a lot. I'm glad you're liking this as much as I like writing it. **

**Some Fiyeraba interaction for you in this chapter.**

The castle's staff put me in a room next to Avaric's, two down from Glinda's. Vinkun culture deemed it inappropriate for couples to lie together. Avaric was nearly rolling on the ground with laughter when he was musing over how they procreated. He found it very entertaining that reproducing was probably a business transaction to the Winkies. I had mentioned the room situation to Nessarose at lunch, and she said that they didn't even allow Bfee's daughter, Bea, to sleep in the same room as Nessarose either. She said that her father, the Governor, had thrown a fit about it when they first found out, because Nessarose needed someone to be in the room with her, just in case an accident arose in the middle of the night. Apparently Fiyero had been fine with Bea rooming with Nessarose at first, but his Grand Vizier had reminded him of tradition, and then he withdrew his prior statement. I stored that information but also reminded myself that tradition is tradition, and just because someone upholds it, doesn't make them a terrible person. Still, though, I had to admit it was interesting.

What I found even more interesting, as I got to know more about Nessarose and her love of gossip, was that the Grand Vizier wasn't even a native Vinkun. She was from the Gillikin and educated at Shiz University. Nessarose told me that the Grand Vizier had spent several years in the lower ranks of the Wizard's administration before she got in close with Fiyero's parents nearly a decade ago. I asked if the woman had always been a diplomatic accessory for the family, and I was awarded with a loud laugh. She apologized profusely for it, but it took her a good while to calm her amusement down to tell me that Fiyero's Grand Vizier choice was the biggest surprise for the Vinkus. It was borderline scandalous, she had added. Fiyero's Grand Vizier had first been hired as a tutor and remained a tutor until the death of Fiyero's parents.

Nessarose was quickly turning into a valuable resource.

"Please forgive me," She said while she followed me around the library after dinner. I was successfully avoiding Glinda. Last time I saw her, she was hanging on Fiyero's arm, telling him what a perfect person he was. I'd rather stab my eye with an ice pick than have to be subject to _that _all day. "I don't usually talk so much." She blushed lightly. "You're easy to talk to."

I had to do a double take. I'm absolutely positive that has never been said of me before. Difficult, yes. Tolerable, yes. Controlling, absolutely. Easy, though, not so much. I couldn't help the blush that creeped onto my own cheeks.

"I like listening to you talk." I don't think she took it as creepy as it sounded coming out of my mouth. "And I don't mind. If you have something to say, you should have someone to listen."

Nessarose smiled at me and went back to talking about people she had encountered in the castle so far. I noticed that she didn't mention Avaric or Glinda. I was fine with that, I already had opinions about them anyway. She was a good person to pass the day away with while also finding out information. I wasn't a completely terrible person; I picked up on things about Nessarose, too. She was the Governor's only daughter, the sole heir to the Governorship, and also holds the title of Fourth Thropp Descending. The latter meant nothing to me, I was nearly certain that it was less political than it had once been and now was merely a social title. I was kind enough to remark on it, though, and learned her mother had been Second Thropp Descending. I didn't know if she wanted me to ask about the missing Third, but I didn't. I wasn't prepared to hear all her woes and wows.

As I said, I enjoyed listening to the next Governor of Munchkinland talk, but when the night fell, I was ready to leave for some peace. I stole some minutes for myself, changed into a tunic and tights, and hid a sheathed dagger in my boot. You never met with someone you were supposed to kill without bringing a weapon. I popped a couple pills for the pain then grabbed my cloak and hugged the shadows until I was safely outside of the castle walls.

I had passed Glinda and her mouth doing obscene things to Fiyero's face, so the night air was welcoming. There was a gentle breeze, enough to rustle the tall grass but not enough to blow it roughly about. The smell the Grasslands emitted almost made me forget how nauseous I was over seeing a battle of tongues. I had half a mind to go find Avaric and start engaging in a tango with his tongue, but I was better than that. I wouldn't sink to petty levels like that.

Instead, I walked the edge of the castle, coming to a barn that housed several different fine horses. Of course, a sleek black one in the corner caught my attention. The stable boy told me its name was Horse. I stared blankly at him. He held his hands up and added that the prince had named him. I shouldn't have expected any less. There was no objection, from the boy or horse, when I set the horse up with a hackamore, so I shot the boy a quick grin after mounting the horse and setting off. I chose a spot close enough to the castle that Fiyero would be able to easily pick me and the horse out, but it was far enough away from the castle (and even further from the stable) for him to have to walk. I really didn't understand what was wrong with me. Who Fiyero chose to kiss was his business. And as long as his business didn't interfere with my business, there should be no problem.

To give credit it when it's due, Fiyero would make a great hunter. I was trained to be aware of people sneaking up on me, and trained to sneak up on people, but I hadn't even heard the Vinkun prince until he let out a huff of breath. Once he was sitting right next to me. I tensed a little but showed no sign of surprise.

I sent him a side glance and let out a disappointed sigh.

"Kill a man's dreams without saying a word." Fiyero said in return. "Impressive."

"I was hoping for Maerae."

He gave me a smile that forced me to keep my eyes forward to keep from doing something stupid. Like see if his hair was as soft as it seemed. Test if the muscles in his arms were as firm as they appeared. Put my lips where Glinda's had been not an hour ago. I blanched, but refrained from gagging, and just glared at the vast expanse of the Grasslands.

"How was your first day here?" Fiyero asked after the silence settled. "Nessa seems to have taken a liking to you."

"She's good company," I told him. "I'd ask how your day was, but I'm not really interested in hearing about your exploration of Miss Glinda's mouth."

The dark did nothing to hide the blush that had risen on his cheeks. I rolled my eyes and looked up at the stars. Biology was even good to him in embarrassment.

"Don't worry, Master Fiyero," I added without looking away from the sky. "I won't tell Avaric that you've been getting to know his betrothed."

"It's not like that."

"Mm."

"Honestly," Fiyero whispered.

"I'm sure you have your reasons."

He chuckled, "I appreciate beauty of all kinds. Simple beauty, flaunted beauty…unconventional beauty…"

"If you're trying to flirt, you'll have to do better than that." I smirked, looking back to him. "I'm not like most girls."

"No, you are not." Fiyero agreed with a laugh. "Baako speaks highly of you."

"He barely knows me." I scoffed.

"The fact that you managed to make that much of an impact on him really intrigues me." The mention of Baako put me back on track. I was here to get information from Fiyero, so that's what I needed to do, and this was my opening.

"Your Grand Vizier seems to have made an impact on him, too."

Fiyero scoffed now, playing with the grass around us. "She has a tendency to make an impact on a lot of people."

"You don't sound so pleased."

Fiyero shrugged and got to his feet. I followed him as he ventured further through the grass. Horse watched as we left him, but he showed no interest in following us. I shot a glance over my shoulder every so often to make sure he was settled. Fiyero stopped and looked up at the night sky before moving a few more paces. He stood and stared up at the patterns the stars were making in the sky. I studied him as he crossed his arms. He hardly looked like the womanizing playboy I'd read about. He looked serene, and I felt myself being drawn to him. There was a ache shooting through my body. He was more than he appeared to be.

"You see that star right there?" He asked as I came to stand at his right side. I nodded. He went on, "If you follow it to that red star, right there, and then over to the lone one there , it makes the Witch. A long time ago, when it was just the Vinkus, there use to be a group of stars surrounding her. Then, one by one, the stars started exploding." The stars that would have finished the ride side of the box around the Witch were gone.

"It correlates with the story of the witch and foxes?"

Fiyero nodded, "The cave is disappearing, but the Witch remains."

I looked at his profile as he was completed enraptured with the constellation. "What does it mean to you?"

"Same thing it means to the Vinkun people." He muttered. "Madame Morrible doesn't know the constellation, doesn't know the tale. Old Vinkun tales mean a lot to my people." He sighed, lost in his thoughts. "Were you named after Aelphaba of the St. Aelphaba tale?"

"I don't know." I whispered. Fiyero tore his attention away from the Witch to look at me. "I don't know much about my heritage."

"Nothing?" He seemed so aghast, but I bit back my laugh.

"I know I'm a Munchkin by birth."

"You're rather tall for a Munchkin."

I shrugged. "I don't know."

"If you ever wanted it," Fiyero scratched the back of his neck. "If you want, I have the resources to help you find out." By resources he means money.

"Why?" I laughed this time. "Why does it matter? How does finding out my heritage affect who I am and what I do?"

"How can you know who you are without knowing who you are?"

"I think what you do tells more of who you are than where you've come from does."

"But where you come from dictates what you do."

"Is that what you tell the families of the victims you've slaughtered?"

Fiyero visibly tensed. Seriously, the muscles of his jaw tightened and every other muscle visible to my eye followed suit.

"Avaric said you were full of opinions." He mumbled stiffly.

"Would you rather me wordlessly dote on you?"

Another smile broke across Fiyero's face, and I wanted nothing more than to put my dagger to his throat to keep him on track. But, of course, all logic was thrown from me when he flashed his smile.

"You dote on me?"

I pursed my lips and refused to answer that, but apparently it was all the answer he needed.

.

I was up before dawn the next morning. Ointment on my wound, pain killers in my systems, and weapons at the ready as I followed Avaric and Glinda through the empty castle corridors. Avaric said there was a weaponry room, sub-terrain. He'd scoped it out several times since he'd been here, and no one had even gone near the door. Of course, for good measure, he stole the key from one of the castle aids. So we all migrated to one room after the castle had fallen asleep last night and then woke up together before it was deemed a socially acceptable hour to be awake. I didn't mind. A couple hours rest on a guest bed in a castle belonging to Vinkun royalty was the best sleep I'd had in years. Maybe all my life. And the bonus: I got to practice with weapons while Glinda was in the room. Not that I wanted to hurt her or anything, but she needed to be reminded of why we were here.

We circled around the level before coming back to the room. Avaric wanted to make sure we weren't followed or being waited for. Once he was assured that nothing was out of place, we entered the room. I fell in love the moment we stepped in.

The walls were a dark stained wood (I had to assume oak from its proximity) and thick to keep the noise contained to the room. There were no windows, but the room lit perfectly when Avaric used his torch to light all the others in the room. The right hand side of the room seemed to be dedicated to any kind of swordplay. There was an area for fencing; an object littered with several thin punctures that were most likely from daggers being thrown at it; another object dangling from the wall with more puncture wounds in it, probably from close encounters with a knife; and finally a chart hung on the wall, detailing how to handle bladed weapons. I ran my hand over the chart. It was written in the Arjiki's official language, and the drawings that went along with each instruction were just beautiful.

There was really nothing to the other half of the room. Mostly open space. Maybe for hand to hand combat. Maybe extra space for fencing or swordfights. But in the middle of the left wall was another door which Avaric was opening.

It was my room. I grinned as I set my bow and arrow down on the counter that lined the shared wall and looked around the room in satisfaction. How was I ever supposed to leave?

"I sent away for Boq." Avaric told us as he examined a weapon like Baako pulled on me.

"What? Why?" Glinda frowned.

"He'll be more useful to us here than in the City." Avaric said, staring into the barrel of the weapon. "If we're serious about helping Fiyero, I think we may need him. I know a guy who knows more than he should, so I sent him a letter about information on our new friends. I have a terrible feeling about the Grand Vizier."

"What kind of feeling?" I asked.

Avaric shook his head, "I can't describe it. I had a meeting with her yesterday, and by the end of it…" He trailed off and shook his head again. "It's best we sort out our allies sooner rather than later. Boq is an ally, and I don't want him out of our sight."

Glinda quirked her lips to the side and made her way to the armory on the other side of the shooting range. I didn't notice it until she started walking, but it shook my faith in the Winkies. What good could possible come from keeping it in the direction people are shooting? Just their luck, someone like Fiyero would shoot someone else in the ass.

"I should have known I'd find you three down here."

I didn't turn around at the sound of Baako's voice, just watched Avaric's face for a reaction. Glinda was frozen in the threshold, gaping at the prince's brother as he stood behind me. Avaric, though, was calm. His face never faltered, and as if it was a normal occurrence to wonder down here, he smiled at Baako with ease. This was his case. I wouldn't doubt that he lost more hours of sleep at night than usual just so he could stay up those extra hours to strategize and prioritize. If what we do is considered art, Avaric was a master of the craft. In more ways than I gave him credit for. Given the option of acting like one or the other, I picked Avaric. Just kept sizing up the targets at the opposite end of the room.

"We would have loved to see your expansive library on weaponry," Avaric started. "But, you see, we're much more hands on learners."

"I don't see any reason to be coy," I could practically hear the smirk in Baako's voice. "After all, we share a common friend. Does that not mean we're all friends?" Avaric was keeping a sharp eye on each movement Baako made; I saw his eyes flicker constantly. "You silence speaks volumes. No matter, how about this: The enemy of my enemy if my friend." I turned to face him at that. "Yes," He grinned at all of us. "I suppose that does make us friends."

"Just because Elphie's gone and fraternized with you, doesn't mean we ought to." Glinda chimed in.

"Me?" I barked, shooting her a glare. _I _wasn't the one tongue spelunking with the prince. I didn't mention that, though.

"Not now." Avaric snapped at us. "Isn't everyone an enemy until proven otherwise?" He turned to Baako.

"Fair point." He nodded. "Try something different, yeah? I'm quite fond of insurance on friendships. Evidence is often intangible or relative. Insurance, though, is something that can be counted on."

I crossed my arms over my chest and stared him down until Avaric consented to hear him out.

"We can assume we're all friends." He said. "But if you kill my brother, I will kill the most important thing to each of you."

"None of us have anything." Glinda whispered, closer than she had been.

"Everyone has something." Avaric answered. Baako nodded.

Glinda went off on her own little tangent how we don't deserved to be threatened this way. I thought it was a lot of talk for someone who was actively in support of proving Fiyero's innocence. Avaric and I watched each other intently as Baako kept quiet, waiting for his answer. Avaric was ready to take Baako's trust. I could see it in his eyes and just his general demeanor. He was practically on his toes, wanting to take this dive. This was his case. Glinda was right. This was Avaric's case. He was stalling to see if I was on board with him. Because regardless of Glinda being appalled by Baako's way of coming to us, she was in.

"I think you've more than proven your friendship." I uncrossed my arms. Baako grinned and came forward to shake hands with us.

"Excellent." He glanced around at the cases of arrows. "Elphaba, you may find the arrows in the case quite to your liking. You may carry on, my friends. We shall talk later."

.

I never liked the rain. Ever. I could handle rainless storms like the best of them, but you throw rain into the mix, and I may as well be a scared alley cat. There was something about the downpour that left me anxious and nearly fearing for my life. Rain seemed harmless, but it could take out cities in an instant. How was I to trust something like that? It's liquid for goodness' sake! So it was the only fear I was willing to admit to. Unfortunately for me, in my line of work, my fears weren't taken into account when performing jobs.

The list that Avaric had acquired kept me from the nice warm palace bed offered to me. My expertise was needed, so my bed had to wait. Glinda got to sleep, though. Glinda got to stay in the warm bed provided to her. I scowled. No doubt being kept warm by the prince. I swallowed my huff as I continued to flank backwards behind Avaric as he navigated through the streets of that small village that the castle of Kiamo Ko overlooked. As long as I was being paid, I had no opinion worthy enough to voice. That's what Baako implied. Friends don't ask questions. And we were friends.

Out of the corner of my eye, I caught Avaric holding his arm out for me to stop. I did one last sweep of the direction I was facing before coming up next to him to check out the building my targets were in. My scowled deepened.

On more than one occasion, when Axe was still alive and kicking, Glinda and I were dragged to Shiz for a night on the town. Well, more like Glinda skipped happily, and I was dragged. Either way, we found ourselves there from time to time. We hardly ever went in the daylight. Shiz wasn't as accepting of green skin as the Emerald City was. Nighttime wasn't the worst, but there were other places I'd rather have been. Avaric and Glinda quite liked the OzDust. Not good ole Axe, though. Axe liked this little establishment called the Philosophy Club. I had not gone in. Would not go in. Boq had gone in once. He spent two months drinking himself into dreamless sleeps every night following. He had nightmares for weeks after the drinking stopped. I didn't need to go in. But I found myself standing outside a like establishment on a rainy night in Winkie Country.

This was rock bottom.

Avaric smirked at me before tugging me into the alley next to the club. There was a couple doing things to each other that they should not have been doing in public. Avaric stared at the woman's exposed side breast. I slapped his chest. He continued to smirk as he rattled off the directions to the place we were meeting back up at. A small coffee shop several blocks over. I had to ditch my bow and arrow in an open window two blocks over. Avaric promised that Baako promised that one of his men would have it brought back before I woke up in the morning.

Avaric's smirk deepened as the couple began panting. When he spoke, he chose several different languages. I understood well enough. It was how he and Axe communicated in company they weren't sure of. "Don't get caught." He said quietly enough that the couple wouldn't hear us. "Do what you have to in order to take care of all the names. All of them or none of them." He reminded me.

I nodded.

"You should be able to use Glinda's stuff on the man at the door. Give him a hefty dose to keep him out for the night. All of them will be in the club. They have it booked for the night."

"If I don't get my things back, you'll be an added bonus." I told him.

He winked. "Have fun." He retreated down the alley, knocking out the couple on his way to take care of the front entrance for me. I waited til I saw the glint of his axe before putting my cloak on the female and then slipping through the cracked side door into the stink hole.

It smelt of smoke, liquor, and sex. It was like walking into Avaric's room. My nose stung as I slinked around the shadows. There was a man blocking the entrance to backstage. I let an arrow go. It struck the area just to the side of his head. Wide eyed, his clambered away from it, turning to stare at it. I got him the moment before he turned around to see where it could have come from. I pinched him just where Avaric had said to, and the man was going down almost instantaneously. I caught most of his weight before he completely ruined the plan and propped him up against the wall, giving him a good whiff of chloroform.

The smell backstage was worse than the entrance. I just needed to get the job done, so I could go. There were no performances tonight. Just personal dances and an intimate act for the men here. At least that was in my favor. I climbed up the stage's skeleton to a spot that allowed me to look over everything. I rolled my eyes at the sight of ten grown men drooling over four half naked women. Didn't these people have more self respect? Taking the arrow that I was told to shoot first in the room, I waited until the entire party tilted their heads back to take the shot of whatever was in the bottle in the middle of their table. My arrow with a blue ribbon tied around it pierced through the center of the bottle, breaking it and sending the shards over the table.

All the laughing and other noise stopped. One of the old cods asked the ladies—as if they could be called that—to leave the room for the night. He assured them they would be paid in full despite their early retirement. I shot one more arrow at the only man with black hair, clean through the upper left side of his back. His head knocked against the table with a sickening thud as the door shut. I crossed to the other side of the frame as the nine remaining looked around, two holding small daggers, ready to counterattack. Those weapons were not planned for but were hardly a hindrance. I took one more unarmed man out before someone sent a shot my way. That wasn't planned for either.

It whizzed past my ear and embedded itself into the wood. There was a moment of silence, and then another shot came towards me, narrowly missing. I scrambled down as they shouted orders at each other.

"Shit!" One of them cried after I got two with one arrow. It was one of the arrow's I took from the shooting range at the palace. I really liked them. I had a dagger jabbing someone's jugular before the men could even take a breath. As I've said before, I'm good at my job.

Halfway there. The one with his hair tied by a ribbon was the last one I was to take. I needed to give him a message before he left.

The man holding the weapon, like the one Baako had, in his shaking hands was my next target. Instead of taking him out, though, I shot an arrow through his hands. The noise he made was out of this world, chilling even, but I couldn't dwell on it as the weapon he was holding fell to the floor, stained with his blood as it dripped.

"Stop!" I barked when someone went to pick it up. "Leave it or I'll kill you all." I never felt bad about using false hope.

One of them laughed when I stepped out of the shadows. He started to say something about me being a girl. An arrow through his throat cut him off. Oops.

"Talk and I'll kill you." I added. The four left looked ready to piss themselves. Good. "Sit down, fold your hands, and keep them on the table." I instructed.

"Who are you?" The shortest man squeaked. I traded my bow and arrow for the weapon on the ground. It looked like a gun, so surely it couldn't have been that different. I held it like I knew what was working with.

"A friend of an enemy." I told them with a smile. "You boys have pissed off some very important people." I clicked my tongue, circling them like a predator. I was, essentially. Mostly out of pity, I shot the one whose hands I ruined. Poor thing was shaking like a leaf, and I'm sure he was in pain. The gun shot easy, taking him out quickly. He slumped onto the man next to him. "I wonder how the Scrow would react if they knew that you were murdering their officials and enslaving their people, blaming it on the prince." Another shot, another man.

Two more. One more.

"What do you want?" The last one asked. His eyes followed me as I stood before him with my bow and arrow now. I glanced at the arrow with the message on it. "Is Fiyero asking for our allegiance? My allegiance."

"Do you really think he's asking for your allegiance?" The man blinked at me. That was a no. "Who do you answer to?" He smirked at me. "Your daughter's rather pretty." I told him. His smirk vanished. "I have a friend. He's an artist with an axe."

"I don't believe you."

"Art is relative, you're right." I said. "Most people probably wouldn't agree, but I can find a masterpiece in a slaughter. All that blood comes together to make something beautiful." He blanched, so I tried again, "Who do you answer to?"

"You'll stay away from my family if I tell you?"

"Cross my heart and hope to die."

He stared at me for a moment. "I don't know their name, honestly." The man laid his hands flat on the table. "I go to the bar at the corner every Monday at midnight, and there's an envelope waiting for me. Tells me who needs how many and a group to surprise. Sometimes there's nothing there but a token of gratitude."

"I'm not convinced." I whispered at the sound of voices towards the entrance.

"I swear, I'm telling the truth!" He begged quietly. "I swear. The seal, the seal on the envelop is that of the Kiamo Ko's. That's as specific as I can get."

I think he was gone quickest of them all.

Avaric was sitting at a small table in the back of the coffee house when I finally showed up. A half an hour later than we planned because of having to dispose of anything that may have given me away. I didn't even get to leave a handprint. It didn't feel like a real job. There was someone sitting across from Avaric with their head on the table, buried by their arms. I frowned and walked towards them, adjusting the skirts I had for a change of clothes. Avaric hadn't thought it appropriate for me to wear pants outside of the job. It might give me away since women wore skirts out in public like this. We bickered for a good hour about it until Glinda shoved a navy colored frock at me.

"Sorry I'm late." I apologized, glancing warily at the stranger. "Taking out the trash took longer than expected; had to make sure I wasn't leaving anything behind."

He nodded in understanding then jerked his head to the lump in our company, "The good prince has had a rough night himself."

Of course, of course it was him.

"How did you find him?" I nudged Fiyero roughly, but he just groaned and mumbled something into the table.

"He found me. Unexpected and unfortunate." Avaric whispered gravely. I raised my eyebrows.

"Not a maiden's bed." Fiyero's head shot up. I winced. I didn't sympathize with the headache he was bound to have, but I could only imagine what that quick motion did to him. His eyes focused, as much as they were able to, on me. A lazy smile broke his drunk face. "Miss Elphaba," He looked over at Avaric who was watching him in bemusement. "Oh." He added dejectedly. "S'pose Glinda's not so bad."

Avaric patted his arm, "Perhaps it'd be best not to talk of my betrothed like that in front of me, yeah?"

"Not an idiot." Fiyero gave Avaric a lame glare.

"Of course you're not, my friend." Avaric said as an older woman put a cup of coffee in front of Avaric and a shot glass and bottle of something in front of Fiyero. I shot Avaric with a sharp look. He merely shrugged as Fiyero poured himself a shot with shaky hands. "It'll be best if he forgets this night."

"Baako's made dangerous friends." Fiyero told us after downing two shots.

"How do you figure?" I asked.

Fiyero focused on me again before another shot was taken. "Told me."

"He told you?" Fiyero nodded. Another two shots. "What else did he tell you? In as little words as possible." I added the last part for his benefit.

Fiyero sighed and looked in the distance, his eyebrows scrunched together in thought. "Don't remember." He finally shook his head slowly.

"Will nothing help you remember? Maybe some more shots?" Avaric encouraged.

The prince's face was plastered with a sly smile, "Some kisses might help."

"Sorry, mate," Avaric chuckled. "Must save all my love for my woman."

Fiyero's gaze settled on me, and I had to keep myself from squirming in my seat. Well, it's not like he'd remember any of this in the morning. I would, though. And Avaric would never let me live it down, then Glinda would find out, and it would just be a mess. No matter how much the prospect of getting messy sounded appealing, I couldn't do that. Not with alcohol clinging to him and death to me.

"I don't have time to find Maerae right now, Fiyero."

"Fiyero." He repeated. "Say it again."

"Fiyero." I bit back a smile.

"You're perfect." My cheeks burned.

"You're drunk, Fiyero."

"I'm free."

"This isn't freedom." Avaric scoffed. "You're a victim who doesn't even know he's victimized."

Fiyero got serious quickly. The glass was halfway to his mouth when he froze and just stared at Avaric as if he was seeing him in a new light.

"Madame Morrible?" He said in a hushed voice.

"What do you think?"

Just as fast as his serious expression had come, it left with the same swiftness. He was smiling again, and I found myself having a love-hate relationship with that damned smile.

The fool grabbed my arm and put a lingering kiss on the inside of my wrist, making my cheeks grow even more heated, "I think Miss Elphaba dotes on me."

I snatched my arm back and tried to ignore the imprint of his handprint that now, temporarily marked me.

**Alright. So who's ready for some more Fiyeraba?**


	5. Sands of Time

**Hold on to your bootstraps, readers, because there's a boat load of Fiyeraba in this chapter.**

**Also, Handprints in the Sands of Time...partially borrowed from Footprints in the Sands of Time. Not mine. Just tailored for my needs. Many thanks, departed Longfellow.  
**

The only thing Fiyero remember from the other night was a couple leaving his room. He told Avaric the next morning that he thought he may have had a threesome, but he can't be certain. Avaric had played it off and replied that nights like that happened to the best of us. Really, though, Avaric was on cloud nine. Fiyero had stumbled into the bar Avaric had been doing business at just as Avaric was cleaning off his axe. I did feel a pang of sympathy for the prince when Avaric told me that. It would be one thing if Glinda or I had walked in on Avaric, but Fiyero was under the impression that Avaric was simply a good man from the North. It was best that all the alcohol he consumed that night took his memory before the worst case scenario happened.

Word of the hits barreled through the castle, though. People were already talking about it before breakfast trying to figure out who could do such horrible things a few days later. Glinda, Avaric, and I kept away from each other the majority of the days. The gossip circulating mentioned the possibility of assassins coming to town to ruin the brewing celebration; if the three of us huddled together, it may raise suspicion. There were already talks that a man and woman had been seen together outside of the club just before my men were taken care of. So I stayed with Nessarose mostly.

She let me tag along with her each time she went out to the gardens to have tea with some of the other people staying in the castle. Bea, for one. She was as sweet as she was plump. She laughed a lot, but it was so soft that sometimes I didn't even know she was dying from laughter until I caught sight of how red her face was.

Three of the four Quadlings finished out the group. They were a riot. Spirit and Goose, the daughter and son of the Grand Countess, loved to talk. The stories they told us about growing up in Qhoyre were terrible to imagine, but the two always found a silver lining to the story and twisted it so it was one of the most amusing things I'd ever heard. From time to time, they would slip into their native language; mostly by accident. Other times, though, they would use it to say something about someone in our company or a friend of someone in the company. They implied Glinda may be a hussy, and I about choked on my tea, but I blamed it on its heat. The last Quadling grinned into his own cup as my coughing settled down. He winked at me surreptitiously.

Hellfire, the daughter's betrothed, was silent but seemed to have a permanent smirk on his face. I thought Nessarose was going to faint whenever he talked, as if hellfire was actually going to spurt from his mouth. Despite the personalities of the siblings, I liked Hellfire the best. He had a good laugh and knew just which sarcastic comment to make. Spirit told us he was from the second major city in Quadling Country, Ovvels. Hellfire's father was the Baron of the city, and their union was a long time in the making. Nessarose asked if the Wizard was comfortable with the Quadlings having that much power, and I knew the conversation was going to turn into something serious. I had no objections.

"_He_ doesn't care enough about Quadling Country to know what's going on. As long as he can still scavenge the place for rubies, he pretends like nothing else is happening." Goose rolled his eyes.

"Thinks we're too thick to form a resistance."

"The Wizard's been tapping Quadling Country for its resources," Nessarose explained to me, "however limited they may be."

"And a union between Qhoyre and Ovvels will counter that?" I asked.

Goose snorted, "There's never a guarantee with that man." Spirit and Hellfire nodded in agreement. "Qhoyre and Ovvels have been divided on the issues for decades and decades. If our family makes a proclamation, authorities in Ovvels find loopholes around it."

Hellfire smirked, "We're hoping through our union that the cities will strength. With Qhoyre's knack for creativity and Ovvels knack for finding exceptions, we think we can take back our country."

"And, of course," Nessarose added, "they have full support from Munchkinland. My father was a Unionist minister before he took up the Governorship after my mother's death, and many of his conversion trips were in Quadling Country. He's built great rapport there. And the Wizard is already putting a chokehold on Munchkinland, so my father is more than willing to support a movement that will restore providence power."

I didn't even know this was going on. I lived in the Emerald City, and I was so oblivious to what was going on outside its walls. I had to admit that I was a little ashamed of myself.

"When Nessarose was younger, there was talks of an arranged marriage between herself and Prince Fiyero." Bea told me. My eyebrows shut up. Nessarose simply giggled.

"We'd have been the most powerful name in Oz." Nessarose rolled her eyes daintily. "I'm heir to the entirety of Munchkinland, and he had been set to inherit the Vinkus. Our house would have ruled East and West, and with full support from the South, we'd have been a force to be reckoned with."

I didn't want to ask it, just in case I didn't like the answer. But I had to. "Why didn't you wed?"

"An old Munchkinland law." She shook her head. "The reason it came to be has been lost to history, but it's written in every book. My father considered overturning it, but it would have hardly made a good impression on the Vinkun people and would have lost support of Munchkins."

"He would be a very nice man to have on your arm, though." Spirit grinned. Everyone else raised their cup in agreement. "But I can only imagine the diseases you'd contract just from looking at him." Goose snickered along with Hellfire and Bea. "I already feel I may have come down with something."

"He does have rather loose morals, doesn't he?" Nessarose pondered.

"No offense, Miss Elphaba, but I don't know how your friend allows his lady to sit next to Prince Fiyero, let alone go off alone with him."

"Avaric has his faults." I smiled. "Sometimes too many to count. I would consider ignorance among them."

"I don't know," Hellfire shrugged. "I've noticed that Fiyero seems to have lost some interest in Miss Glinda in favor of another. What say you, Miss Elphaba?"

I quirked my lips to the side and gave a noncommittal sound.

"That's right!" Goose patted Spirit's arm excitedly. "Spirit and I were coming back from the taverns last week and saw the two of you out in the Grasslands."

"It was rather romantic." Spirit sighed.

"We were just talking. I went for a ride, and he came to ask me how my first day in the Vinkus went."

"Sounds like he may be smitten." Bea added.

"Speak of the devil." Hellfire mumbled as he poured himself more tea.

Sure enough, crossing from the other side of the garden was Fiyero himself. He smiled at me when I caught his stare. Goose glanced over his shoulder then back at the table, muttering something about how the light suited Fiyero. Everyone nodded slightly. I just swallowed the lump in my throat and tried to keep myself stirring the lemon around in my tea. Tea was great with lemon. Was he coming out here to drink tea with us? Did he have a radar? Sensed his name being spoken and had to investigate? Sensed the blush that had crept on my cheeks and thought he'd add to it? The tea. The lemon being stirred around—and then he was standing before us.

"Afternoon," He greeted us. "I hope you're enjoying the gardens." Goose stared at him, but Bea nodded. "My mother spent every evening out here."

"It's beautiful, Prince Fiyero." Nessarose smiled back at him.

"Thank you." He scratched the back of his neck. "Miss Elphaba," It was completely ridiculous, the people I was with were completely ridiculous. A silence settled over them as Fiyero addressed me. I forced myself to look away from my tea. "I was hoping you'd accompany me to dinner down in the village. There's this paladar not far from the village square."

My spoon clanged against the tea cup. Accompany him to dinner? Goose and Spirit looked like children at Lurlinemas. Nessarose wasn't far from looking like them. Bea looked like she had just died, and Hellfire maintained his cool aloofness. I think, maybe, none of those expressions fit me. I hoped I didn't look like any of them, at least.

"Just the two of us?" I managed to ask.

"Yeah," Fiyero glanced around the table after a blushed crept on his cheeks. "Like a date."

"Oh."

"No?"

"No."

"No…"

"No." He was turning me into an idiot just like him. "I mean, yes. That would be nice."

My pulse flourished when his smile brightened. Paladares in the Vinkun were gossiped about all the way in Emerald City. It would be a great excuse to experience what the hype was all about. Not to mention, dinner outside the castle would be a relief. And I was more than capable of sorting out business and pleasure. Besides, me going on this thing with Fiyero would take the suspicion away from Glinda "cheating" on Avaric with Fiyero. Right?

"So I'll meet you in the foyer at seven?" I nodded in response. "Great. I'll see you then. Enjoy the rest of your tea, everyone."

"Smitten." Hellfire mumbled when Fiyero was out of earshot. The table nodded.

I shrugged, "Perhaps."

.

Avaric stood at the foot of his bed as I dug through his and Glinda's wardrobe, looking for a dress that was appropriate to wear on a date with a prince. His room had been changed overnight from a normal bedroom to a research room. His bed was covered in files and notes. He had moved a pillow and blanket to the bay window, and I assumed that's where he was sleeping. There was a chart on the wall across from the bed. Pins were sticking out of it, it was color coated, and notes were placed in various sections. He was starting to explain everything the moment I walked in, but he immediately shut up when I told him I needed a dress.

So he watched me as I dug around. He remained silent, only making a sound when he shifted to see what I had my hands on.

"He told Glinda, you know." Avaric said.

I stopped my search and looked at him. "Who told Glinda what?"

"Fiyero told her he was going to ask you to dinner." Avaric crossed his arms of his chest and study me for a minute.

The silence was a little unsettling. "And you're okay with me going to dinner?"

"I don't care what you do as long as it doesn't get in the way of this job."

"It won't." I promised.

"If it does," Avaric walked up next to me, "if it does, I want you to go back to the City. Work on some local cases and provide additional resources for us here. I don't know how long this could take, but I don't need to be worrying about throes of passion while I'm working. Is that fair?"

"That's fair." I nodded.

"Good." He turned back to his research. "Don't get too dressed up. He's going on a date with Elphaba, not Glinda."

I took Avaric's advice and wore something simple and comfortable instead of elegant and dainty. He was right. Fiyero wasn't dressed up much either, so it made me feel even better about my own outfit. He was wearing a white cotton shirt with a red waistcoat and suede leggings. Aside from the fact that he looked like he was ready to go riding, he did look quite nice. And I didn't feel underdressed or overdressed compared to him.

The rain from the previous night had stopped, so it ended up being a nice walk from the palace to the village. No rain but the smell of rain clung to the landscape, giving off the fresh smell. Fiyero commented on how there was hardly any rain during the Spring and Summer season at Kiamo Ko. Being so close to the Thursk Desert meant sharing its weather patterns. So when it rained, most of the Vinkuns from the area considered it a blessing from the Kumbric Witch. The Fall and Winter months, though, were brutal, he said. Most people didn't hang around after the first leaf of autumn fell. They closed up shop and left towards the South to escape the change. He also mentioned how his Grand Vizier was talking about moving the royal family to the City during that time, as she was in the process of appealing to the Wizard for a tower in the Palace.

"You decide if you want to put my resources to use?"

"You're still hung up on my heritage?"

"Learning about you is becoming my favorite pastime."

"Have you ever been to the City?" I asked him, changing the subject.

He shook his head as we made it to the village. "I've never been out of the Vinkus. I think we went to Ugabu for a diplomatic trip when I was younger, but I hardly remember. Baako just remembers being interrogated when he tried to smuggle a peasant from the streets back with us." Fiyero laughed. "Do you like the City?"

"It's brilliant if you care for aesthetics."

"You don't?"

"If you've been there long enough, the poverty is more brightly painted than the buildings are."

A few people we passed almost dropped at the sight of Fiyero. He waved at them and asked how their evening was if they lingered longer than a couple seconds. An older man took the invitation and ran with it for the chance to have a conversation with the prince. He asked if Fiyero was out with his Grand Vizier nearby or if it was simply for pleasure. Fiyero told the man that it was my first trip to the Vinkus, and he wanted to show me as much culture as he could before I returned home. They prattled on about the man's life for a while. He had a wife, two daughters, and a son: Triplets. The family didn't have much money, making what they did by selling homemade clothes and accessories. They were hoping to save up enough money to send all three to Shiz. I had to bite my tongue to keep from laughing. Good luck with that! Glinda and I made a hefty sum of money for what we did, and neither of us could afford to go to Shiz.

"Bring your case to the throne room tomorrow, and I'll see what I can do." Fiyero told the old man. I stared at him. "And maybe my date and I can see your merchandise when we've finished with our dinner."

The old man looked just as taken aback as I did. He rattled off his gratitude and then his address before he fled down the street. He was practically skipping with excitement, and when he turned a corner, I could definitely see the wide smile plastered over his face. Fiyero said something about the man bring him muffins every time he finds him passed out in a bar. So sending all three of the man's children to Shiz is the least he can do? I found myself having a hard time believing this was the man responsible for countless slaughters. But, I needed to remind myself, people were never one sided. It was more than possible for Fiyero to have two different sides.

Regardless, I hesitantly took Fiyero's hand, before I could change my mind, as we continued walking down the cobblestone streets. Another bright smile lit his face, and he squeezed my hand reassuringly. I was in so much trouble.

"What's your life like in the City?" Fiyero asked, picking up where we left off. "If the aesthetics don't appeal to you and poverty screams at you, why stay? What makes it worth it?"

I figured telling him the retribution I felt when I took care of a job was not appropriate for a first date. Or at all.

"I don't know," I shrugged. "I suppose it's because there's no identity in the Emerald City. It's not like the rest of Oz. There's no religious history, no ethnic history, nothing like that. It's just one big mix of everything; everything and nothing. It's a city of orphans. I like that although I'm alone, there's a city of people who are alone just like me."

"That's awfully poetic for someone who doesn't like aesthetics."

I watched him. Watched the way the setting sun made him look like some deity sent to taunt me. Most the way his lips looked. How long would it have taken for Glinda's saliva to clear out?

"So," I cleared my throat and looked down the street with a new focus, "where is this paladar at?"

Fiyero blinked at me. His expression was unreadable, and it irked me that someone who was predictable could do that. In a second, though, without warning, his nerves played across his face. Before I could react to them, he leaned in and kissed me. And his lips were soft and warm and all kinds of perfect that I really couldn't blame Glinda for kissing him the other day. Who wouldn't want to kiss his lips? How could I blame them? But the thought of other people kissing him like I was sent a wave of jealousy through me. So I pressed into the kiss, matching his movements and efforts. I didn't want to be like the other people who've kissed him. I wanted to be memorable.

Then he was smiling against my lips as his hand cupped my cheek, running his thumb over the bones there. He kissed me again with the same urgency and need. And again with less urgency. And then again and again until his kisses were just for the hell of it. I could feel his pulse racing under my hands from where they were at on his neck. I was doing that to him. Me kissing him had his nerves racing. I broke away from him and started walking in the direction we had been working towards again, grinning like a fool as my fingers felt my lips. It was exhilarating, to say the least. It didn't take long for Fiyero to be back at my side, lacing his fingers through mine.

"You won't be disappointed." He told me. I didn't even care what he was talking about at this point. I was as prurient as the next person, so that kiss forced my mind on one track.

I dragged us to a stop again, kissing him this time. He responded eagerly. Overly eager, maybe, though I won't fault him for it. There was hardly any space between us when he put his hands on my hips, holding me to him. If this was a Vinkun cultural excursion, sign me up for more.

It's not like I was prude or anything. Life gets to be miserable in the City, and we all know how much misery loves company. Of course, my misery doesn't love it as much as Avaric does. But I'm not the virginal little creature with green skin and low self esteem. Although green skin has turned quite a bit of heads, there are people in the City with far more different complexions than I. The Quadlings have various reds as a normal color. Elves have green skin. The Vinkuns have those patterns…where were Fiyero's?...So my abnormality rarely stood in the way of City pleasures.

"I'm not really hungry." I mumbled between kisses. "For food." I added. Did that sound cheesy? That probably sounded cheesy. What was wrong with me?

"We should go see that old man." Fiyero said before a long and drawn out kiss.

"Yeah." I breathed as he kissed a line from my mouth to the point where my shoulder met my neck. Oh, that was nice.

"Quickly." He pulled away and took my hand again, dragging me off the building's wall. I frowned back at it. I don't remember being back into it.

Thank all known and unknown deities the old man's house wasn't far from where we had been. Two short blocks and a set of stairs and we were standing outside a small cottage. A thin, ochre skinned young woman opened the door. She gaped before remembering her manners and inviting us inside. Fiyero thanked her and told her that the old man had invited him to look at the merchandise. She stared at Fiyero like he was crazy. Like he was out of his mind since he could have gone shopping for the finest fabrics but instead chose a little homerun merchant. She lead us into the basement of the house; it was much larger than I had thought.

The basement was full. Brightly colored clothes lined the walls: Shawls, scarves, waistcoats, cloaks, frocks, and other things that must have taken days to complete. I broke away from Fiyero to walk around as he conversed with the family. All three children had the same ochre skin as their mother, while the father was paling. And Fiyero just sat and talked to them like it was a normal thing. I glanced back at him as I walked towards a section furthest from the stairs.

The wall was completely lined with the imprints of handprints. It was wonderful, truly. The slab of material they were situated on was just one whole thing. It started with one small handprint in the center and all the others circled it with others circling them. When I stepped closer to it, I noticed the fine writing on each thumb. It was a name. A different name for each thumb. The name of the owner of the hand. I made a noise when I picked out the name 'Thropp' in the sea of handprints. Frexspar and Melena Thropp. I wondered is Nessarose knew about this.

"You like?" A voice followed the footprints I heard behind me. It was one of the daughters.

"It's beautiful." I told her with a nod.

"It's sand."

"It's sand?" I turned to her with wide eyes.

She nodded and blew on an area with no handprints. Sure enough, the sand blew away at her breath. "No one knows why it stays like that. It's been hanging here for as long as I can remember. The position doesn't move the sand, shaking it doesn't move the sand…It only reacts when you personally do something to it. Like place your handprint on it or blow it."

"Magic?" I asked as Fiyero joined us.

"Maybe." She shrugged, sparing him a glance. "Maybe something more. Handprints in the Sands of Time. Unexplainable and unavoidable. Do you two want to add yours?"

"Does it cost money?"

"I don't know; does it?"

So we added our handprints to the Sands of Time.

Fiyero paid for a private carriage to take us back to the castle. Not that there was anything with the weather and walking in the weather, but we were more interested in exerting our energy in other activities.

The corridors were deserted by the time we got back to the castle, after having the carriage driver circle the village one. Or twice. I followed closely behind Fiyero, playing with the black scarf he had bought from the old man. It was soft between my fingers, but I would trade it for the feel of Fiyero's skin in a heartbeat. Goose was sitting in the corridor under the light of a torch, reading something. He simply stared at us as we walked by, hand in hand. He didn't stay long, though, because I definitely heard him break into a run once our backs were to him.

I woke up the next morning, and several after, to the feeling of fingers running along my neck and collarbone. Most of the time I ignored him, but this time I grinned and leaned into the hand. Fiyero let out a breath and kissed my shoulder when I opened my eyes.

"Hi." He mumbled, kissing my shoulder again.

"The sun hasn't even risen yet." I said back, sitting up and letting the blankets pool around my waist.

"It's like three." He smirked, his voice deep with sleep, among other things. "I like the way you look in my shirt."

I kissed him in response. Quick and effectively. I didn't need it to turn into something more and end up with bruises I couldn't hide. He flopped back down in his bed and made the most ridiculous time of stretching. I smiled down at him. We were waking up in his bed; not my bed or some bed at an inn in the village. We were in Fiyero's own bed in his tower. His odd expressions faded into a smile when I traced my finger along a pattern of diamonds the trailed down his chest from his neck. They disappeared beneath his waistband, and I had to admit that was I curious to see where they stopped.

That being said: No, we didn't. Haven't. Whatever.

"Go back to sleep."

"I owe you dinner." He grinned, finally getting up and looking for a pair of clean pants.

"Yes, you do." I laughed. "Later."

"No," He threw me my tunic and leggings. "I'll make you food now."

He stopped his search as I unbuttoned his shirt. I smirked at him before turning around and dropping the shirt completely. I heard him stumble behind me. To spare him the torture, I quickly pulled my tunic on.

"We can go tomorrow to the paladar?" He suggested. "We could meet somewhere, so we actually eat there."

I laughed again. "Good because I don't think the conversation was fair last time." Fiyero quirked an eyebrow. "I told you intimate details about the City, but you hardly told me a thing about the Vinkus."

"There's not enough time to talk about how much I love the Vinkus."

I grinned at the seriousness of his tone. But moments like made me wonder how someone so passionate about the Vinkus could be so easily swayed. So easily confounded.

"Well, you better start picking out your favorite things." I told him as he tucked his shirt into his pants.

Fiyero gave me several soft pecks as he said, "I'm quite fond of its open visitor policy."

"Me too." I kissed him again and put my boots on.

"You are about to eat the greatest food you've ever had." Fiyero whispered as we walked down the corridor.

"I'm sure."

Fiyero laughed quietly. He lit several candles and turned on something that looked like a stove. When he caught me staring at it, he explained that it was a gift from a group of TikToks in Kvon Altar. They had given it to him several months after he granted them freedom to stay in the Vinkus without the fear of being alienated by the tribes. Apparently it was a stove that worked without fire or manual labor. I continued to watch it as he put a pan on the stop of it. It was heating without fire. No one in the City had anything like this. I opened the door to the oven as Fiyero took something out of one of the ice boxes in the corner. He snickered as put a thick cube of something into the pan. It sizzled when it made contact. It worked so quick!

"The cooks never let me in here." Fiyero grinned, using a sharp knife to cut some vegetables that had been hanging in a basket over the island. "They think I'll break something."

"Do you usually?" I asked, still studying the TikTok stove.

"No! But I may have started a fire in here." Well, that was something. "Several times."

"Are you trying to kill me?"

"Not if you're not trying to kill me." He chuckled. I giggled along with him but suddenly lost interest in the captivating thing. "Madame Morrible's upset about me approving the grant to send that man's children to Shiz." Fiyero said after a while of nothing but the sound of him chopping up ingredients and adding them to the liquid base.

"Yeah?"

He nodded. "I figured you'd have something to say, since we both know how opinionated you are." He teased.

"What did she say to you?"

He rolled his eyes and wiped the knife off on a kitchen towel. "She thinks we could have used that money for something more worthwhile. Unfortunately, her definition of worthwhile is not mine."

"What is your definition?"

"I've tried and failed university." He mumbled, adding the last of his ingredients to the mix. "My parents wasted so much money on my education, and it got me nowhere. I didn't want to go, so I didn't try. But those kids _really _want to go to Shiz. They are the kind of people that'll help the Vinkus, and helping their future to help my providence is worthwhile to me."

I leaned against the counter and watched him as he opened his mouth to say more but shut it. His lips quirked into a half smile, and he shook his head while he tossed the mix in the pan.

"You don't have any opinions on the matter?"

"You want to hear them?"

"I wouldn't have mentioned it if I didn't."

"I think your Grand Vizier has her own agenda, and it may not be in the best interests of the Vinkus."

He nodded again. "She used to work for the Wizard, you know?" I pretended like I didn't. "My parents fell in love with her on a trip to the palace, and a couple of months later she was my tutor. She was their official secretary once they realized educating me properly was fruitless." His hand stilled on the cabinet he opened, and he stared into it long enough for me to really worry he was lost in actual thoughts. "They died two months later." He added quietly.

The assassin in me went crazy. This was perfect! How did Avaric miss this? He was going to flip when I told him. The assassin in me wanted to bolt from the room at that moment to go wake the baboon up and tell him what I found out. The assassin in me didn't define me, though. So I stayed with Fiyero, blanketed by silence. I wasn't the greatest at comforting people, but I knew sometimes you didn't need to talk to make them feel better. I just moved next to him, close enough but not touching, and waited there until he turned a small smile at me and kissed my cheek.

Fiyero was out like a flame when we crawled back into his bed an hour and a half later. I nudged him once I was sure he was sleeping, but the only response I got was a light snore. Leaving my shoes behind, obviously I'd be back, I sprinted to the other side of the castle. It shouldn't have surprised me, but Avaric was already, or still, awake when I managed to drag Glinda out of bed and into his room. He frowned at us when I barged in, blonde in tow.

"Fun fact: Madame Morrible was the Tiggular's official secretary for two months."

"Elphie," Glinda whined. "Couldn't this have waited til a decent hour?"

"If it was public knowledge, maybe."

"Why isn't it public knowledge?" Avaric's frown deepened.

"The King and Queen died two months after."

"Two months after appointing her official secretary?" I nodded. "You think Madame Morrible is responsible for their death?"

"I don't have enough information to point fingers, but there are some factors that make it make sense."

"Like what?"

I told them about tea with the Munchkin and Quadling children, about how the Quadlings are looking at unifying and about the support from Munchkinland. And if there had been talks of marrying Nessarose and Fiyero at one time, that had to mean that the Vinkus was on better terms with the East than it was with the Emerald City, right? Madame Morrible used to work for the Wizard. So if what the tea brigade was saying was true, then it's completely plausible that Morrible could have killed his parents in order to keep the Vinkus in the City's grip. Avaric and Glinda both expressed concerns that it sounded a bit like a conspiracy theory. Which, yes, I agree, vaguely. But the more I explained it to them, the more it made sense to me.

"Think about the people we're hired to kill, guys." I said. "How many of them would kill and cover it up in order to keep their power? Think about us! We kill in order to maintain a sense of right. How is it so hard to believe that the Wizard could have set this up to keep the City as the centre of power?"

"If you bring us evidence that this is what's happening, then we'll put efforts on it." Avaric decided. "You work on proving Morrible's guilt, and we'll work on Fiyero's innocence." He motioned to Glinda and himself.

"No," Glinda shook her head. "Elphie and I are a team." She held my gaze as she stood up and took my hand with a firm nod. "We're a team, and we'll work on this as a team. When Boq gets here, the two of you can work on Fiyero. Good?" Avaric and I nodded. "Fantastic. So you go back to doing whatever you were doing, and we'll see you after we've all woken up."

I mumbled a good night to Avaric as I followed Glinda out of the room.

"So you and Fiyero are really getting to know each other," Glinda whispered as she prepared herself for bed once again, "it would seem."

I stared at her and went on when she looked at me expectantly, "He makes me feel…normal, I guess."

She smiled at me through the mirror. "Normal is overrated."

"Normal is a little refreshing when you're anything but normal." I sighed and plopped on her bed. "I also don't think he's capable of killing all those people. He may have signed the papers, but I highly doubt he knew what he was doing."

"Because he's brainless?"

"Well, that, too." I laughed. "But he's so passionate about the Vinkus, Glinda." I fell onto my back and stared at the ceiling. "When he talks about it, he makes me feel awful for using 'Winkies' for so long. He's so dim at times, but then there are moments where I can't believe he's swayed so easily by that woman. And the people just love him. Honestly. Not even in that kind of celebrity way, though, I'm sure that's buried in them, too. But they really love him. They come up to talk to him, and he'll give them his undivided attention."

Glinda was next to me then, lying on her stomach with her head on her arms, facing me. "What do you think of him?"

"I think it's only been a week, and I'm not one to rush into this feelings nonsense."

"Elphie…"

I groaned.

"Do you want to know what I think?"

"You'll tell me anyway."

She grinned. "I think you like him." I rolled my eyes. "I think you like him, but you're afraid to let yourself, because emotions aren't something you can control like a bow and arrow."

"I think my bow and arrow are more reliable than fleeting feelings."

"You should try losing control. I think you'd like it."

**Review because you love some Fiyero in the white hot pants? OR because you love some Elphaba in nothing but Fiyero's shirt? Or even that black with red roses sex scarf because come on, guys, you know what that was used for. **

**Whichever your preference is. Just review:)  
**

**Next chapter: Elphaba and Glinda paint the town; Boq arrives; and Nessa knows too much.**


	6. Glass

**This is a lot shorter than the previous ones, but I wanted to get something out for you! Also, no painting the town pink and green, because I had a change of ideas. **

**Enjoy!**

Glinda moved like a cat. She was so small and flexible that it was a wonder that she didn't have some kind of feline ancestry. She swore she was a pureblood human, but I had never known a pureblood human who could move like she did. Unfortunately for her, though, it sometimes meant she had to crawl through tight spaces I couldn't reach, or hide in niches that any normal person wouldn't be able to even think about squeezing into. That being said, unfortunately for _me, _it meant having to deal with people when that wasn't my area of expertise.

"Madame Morrible!" Like now, calling for Fiyero's Grand Vizier to distract her to the point we needed.

The terrible woman looked over her shoulder at me as she was locking up her office with a key and a wave of her hand. Magic? I kept my face sociable.

"Miss Elphaba," she smiled sweetly at me, "what can I do for you, my dear?"

"I was talking to the Prince, and he had mentioned that you are Shiz educated." I told her and she nodded, walking towards me. "You see, I've been looking into an education from Shiz. After all, it is the place to be if you want to go anywhere." I thought I was rather good at appealing to people's ego.

"I owe all my success to Shiz," she started leading me the second we matched strides. Good, good. "Did Fiyero tell you that I received a personal recommendation to Crage Hall from the Wizard himself?"

"No!" I pretended to be stunned.

"It's true." She replied smugly. "I'd spent many summers interning at the Palace, and when the time came for me to make some use out of my primary schooling, the Wizard was more than willing to help me further my education. You said you're looking into Shiz?"

I had to keep myself from bristling at the tone to her voice. Like I wouldn't be able to make it there. She didn't even know me. I just nodded and gave her a callous smile. Just several more meters and she'd drop like the ton of bricks she was.

"Which course of study?"

We had planned for me to tell her political science, but sorcery slipped out on a gut feeling. It worked like a charm. Better than I think politics would have. Because the second it left my mouth, I could practically see her guard letting down. Her face lit up like I told her she was going to be ruling Oz. I couldn't have asked for a better reaction.

"I studied politics, of course, but I always had a love of sorcery." She told me. "I don't want to brag, but my professor used to tell me that I was the greatest sorceress she had ever seen." I'm sure. "Why don't you come by my office tomorrow afternoon, and I can show you some of my old textbooks." She added, stopping a few feet from where I needed her to be.

I paced about, trying to appear nervous. Improvising.

"I don't know," I leaned against the wall, forcing her to turn to me instead of merely following my movements with her eyes. "My friend, Avaric, thinks sorcery is a bit of nonsense. I fear what sort of taunts he would throw my way if he knew I was speaking with someone about magic. Sorry, I get anxious quickly." I sunk to the ground when I noticed a flash of blonde over Morrible's shoulder.

"You shouldn't feel ashamed of magic, Miss Elphaba." Madame Morrible stood over me. It would have been a little nervewracking if I hadn't been in control of the conversation. "You should never apologize for talent, my dear."

And before I could blink, she was falling to the ground in a heap with an echoing thud in the otherwise empty corridor. Glinda smirked proudly down at the hag. She took off her glove and wrapped it up before shoving it in her satchel.

"She's a very irritating woman." Glinda nudged her with her boot. I nodded in agreement before Glinda went over to the nearest door and knocked softly on it. "She's all yours, dearie." She said to Avaric as he emerged with a scowl.

"You owe me so much." He frowned, hauling Morrible up to her feet and then dragging her down towards her quarters.

Glinda worked her magic, not literally, and got us into Morrible's office in a good ten minutes. I threw open the curtains, so we could move around in the moonlight instead of fumbling in the darkness. The office was filled with books and filing cabinets. There was a case of artifacts on the far wall, behind her desk, but none of them looked like they were from Oz. Glinda headed straight for the cabinets and drawers that lined the walls, and I went for her desk. It was immaculate, thankfully. Everything seemed to have a working order, which made our job easier. Hopefully.

Her desk was a sleek dark wood with gold trimming. It must have cost a fortune. At the head of the top was a word written in a language I didn't recognize, but it was exactly written into the wood. Tiny emeralds made it up. Finely cut emeralds that twinkled in the moonlight. I had a feeling it may have been a gift from the Wizard. The center of the desk was a glass encasing. Inside it was an archaic looking book. I couldn't tell the thickness of it because of how it was situated under the glass, but it didn't look like a measly two hundred page thing. It was old and worn, and the letters on the front swirled in front of me, forming and unforming words that weren't any of the recognized languages of Oz. But I could understand what they were saying. Well, comprehend the words but not the meaning. I frowned deeply at it.

I tried prying the glass up, but it was fixed. I even tried pushing it to different sides, pressing my hands down on it, but nothing was working. So I went into her drawers, which opened easily. They were bare, though. Absolutely nothing. Not even a trick drawer. I went through all of them quickly, falling deeper into confusion as each of them turned up as empty as the first.

"Glinda, there's nothing in the drawers." I whispered.

She glanced over at me, shaking her head, "The cabinets are bare, too."

I shut the drawers and hurried to the bookshelves, opening the first one I got my hands on and flipping through the pages. Wordless. Glinda did the same thing as I went through more. All of them the same. There was nothing here. Nothing but that damn book.

"What does this even mean?" Glinda hissed jamming a book back on the shelf.

"She's got to have another room." I mumbled, trying another book to no luck.

"She is Grand Vizier of the entire Vinkus, and she has no records of anything in here. That doesn't make any sense." Glinda looked around the room. "Would Fiyero know, do you think?"

I shrugged.

"Baako might." She suggested.

"She's got to keep records of all the slaughters that Fiyero's signed away for." I finally said. "He may know where she keeps her files, but he's not going to tell me that. He's dumb, but he's not a complete idiot."

"He would tell someone who's threatening to kill me." Glinda said slowly.

I stiffened and stared warily at her.

"We know how to kill a man without him even seeing our face, surely we can threaten one. We can use an accent." She tried convincing me. "We can put the fear of the Unnamed God into him and then catch him while his guards are down."

"He already thinks Baako's fraternizing with dangerous people." I reminded her and myself. He is on edge and would be easy to get information from him if we were to dangle him over the cliff. "And he's proven that he's easily swayed."

"Are we going to do this?"

I nodded, "We here for the job."

.

"I bet if we threw her in the river, she'd float."

"Wouldn't they weigh her down?"

"Not with the stuff they make them with."

"She must have paid a fortune."

"I heard she sold her parents' estate to pay for them."

"No, I think it was just all their finest steeds."

"What I wouldn't give to be the babe that sucks on those things."

I frowned up as Goose and Spirit from my spot next to Nessarose as we waited at the train station for Boq's train to arrive. He was already four days behind schedule, and now his arriving train was adding an hour onto that. I volunteered to come pick him up at the station, Nessarose and the Quadling siblings jumped at the chance to leave the castle and invited themselves along. Avaric had stayed behind to rub elbows with Fiyero. I think the two of them were going out for a ride in the Grasslands with Baako. Glinda got roped into tea with Horrible Morrible, as the castle staff referred to the Grand Vizier, and the remaining Gillikinese. And, if I'm not terrible mistaken, I was positive it was the Duchess' rather large breasts the two Quadlings were talking about.

"You two are your country's future?" My frowned deepened.

"Thank the Unnamed God, huh?" Goose laughed. "You and Fiyero'd have to sit through diplomatic meetings with some old fogey if we weren't set to rule Quadling Country."

"That's a sad attempt at humor." I bit.

"But very great at foreshadowing." Spirit winked.

Nessarose snickered softly behind her hand. "Sorry, Elphaba." Her lips quirked into a not-so-sorry smile. "What does your friend look like again?"

"Well, he's—ahm—a little…little?" I shrugged.

"Oh, Nessie, he's one of yours." Spirit squatted and peered around as if she was going to find Boq like that.

"You're friend's from Munchkinland?"

"Originally, yes." I told her with a shrug. "He's been in the City for as long as I've known him, though."

"What's he like?"

"He studied a Shiz." Goose let out a sound of approval. "He came to the City at a young age and met the right people."

Boq had been fostered by the Man that all of us, all of us assassins, answered to. Really, it spoke of how lucky the Munchkin was and how lucky Glinda and I had been to run into him. He didn't talk about his upbringing in Munchkinland or the Emerald City much at all. But the few times Avaric had managed to get the man raving drunk, we learned tidbits about his life. He left Munchkinland at a very young age. He said it was over some conflict of interests with his birth parents, but he never said more on that subject. It was common knowledge that he had been a university man. He had taken to studying languages, but Glinda said he told her that he took a few political courses when he could. He was the smartest man I knew, book and street.

It worried Avaric that Boq was so close to the Man. Avaric though that Boq would be the one we would have to keep our eye on. You never trust anyone in this business, but especially not the man who has a personal relationship to the boss. I wasn't so sure, though. Boq was a lot of things, but I didn't believe he was a traitor to his own people. He never put a hit on another assassin, and he never put a hit on a Munchkin. And people respected that about him. It's too easy for someone to go rogue, to keep a list of those who wronged them. But Boq always kept his personal life apart from business. Besides, I trusted the man much more than I trusted Avaric and only trusted Glinda more. The three people you're supposed to trust in this line of work is the man who gives you cases, the man who supplies your weapons, and the man watching your back.

"He'll have a little read beanie on." I added.

The Quadlings sighed and went back to squatting to look for Boq.

His train finally emptied the last of the passengers, and Boq was still nowhere in sight. I left my little group to go up to the desk and ask if everyone had made it onto the train and if everyone who got on, got off. They gave me a funny look but assured me everyone was accounted for. I scowled, turning back to the clearing area.

A wave of relief crashed over me when I caught sight of him. He was mostly hidden from view by a pillar, but he caught my gaze and jerked his head to come to him. I glanced back at my party before making my way to the other side of the pillar. I leaned against it, looking around casually like I was waiting. Nessarose was telling Goose about something, and Spirit was roaring with laughter. They weren't paying attention, in other words.

"None of you mentioned the Governor's daughter would be here." He snapped when I opened my mouth to talk.

I kept an eye on the three as I answered, "Avaric told you that Fiyero was keeping diplomatic company for the holiday."

"Who else from Munchkinland is at the castle?"

"The Governor, obviously. A mayor from one of the cities, his wife and daughter."

"Bfee?"

I straightened up and peered around the pillar at him. "Yes…"

"I can't stay at the castle, Elphaba." He whispered when I went back to my first position. "I'll find an Inn to stay at in the village, but I can't stay there."

"Why not?" I scoffed. "They're hardly frightening. Nessarose is probably the sweetest person I've ever met. I mean, she babbles about religion a lot, but she's a fountain of information. And I swear she has the utmost faith in everyone but Horrible Morrible. Actually, I don't even think she'd reprimand the woman if they ever got to bat at each other-"

"Elphie." Boq hissed. He moved forward a little, and I did the same to block him from view. "It's not Nessa or the Governor." He stared at me intently. I shook my head. He wasn't making much sense to me. "They're my parents, Elphie. My parents."

I'm pretty sure my jaw dropped as I stared at him in astonishment, totally forgetting the cover we were trying for.

"They're your parents?" I choked out.

"You see?" His eyebrows shot up. "I can't just waltz in Kiamo Ko after years of having dropped off the grid. Why couldn't you guys have just killed this bastard and been out?"

"I'm not going to kill an innocent man, Boq." I snapped. "Besides, Glinda and I are pretty sure the Grand Vizier is the real target."

Boq froze at the sound of a little chirping sob behind us. I whipped around to find Nessa looking at us with an expression that reminded me of the look Glinda had given Avaric the first time she witnessed him mauling someone with an axe. It had been a rough month for him, and his cases had become overkill.

"Nessa-"

"You're the Green Handprint, aren't you?" Her voice was so small, and she looked so frightened. I don't even think she had taken in that Boq was beside me yet. "You're responsible for the deaths that have been occurring since you arrived, aren't you?"

I didn't confirm or deny her accusation.

Her face fell, "You're here to kill Fiyero?" She gave me a look like I ought to be ashamed of myself. "You're toying with him."

"I'm not here to kill Fiyero." I whispered promisingly. I could see Boq frowning at me out of the corner of my eye.

"Then why are you here?" Her tone was cold as she cast a glance back to where Goose and Spirit were playing hand games with each other.

"Someone with power is using their position maliciously, and I'm here to make sure it stops." I told her, kneeling in front of her. "You said yourself this morning that a change was happening in the Vinkus and couldn't say it was for the better. I haven't even known Fiyero as long as you have, but do you honestly think he alone is capable for all the things that are going on?"

She considered me, her jaw tightening as she clenched her teeth.

"You murder people." She spat out quietly.

"I take care of people who murder people." I corrected.

"I ought to turn you into the authorities. There's a hefty price on your head."

**Please review!:)**


	7. Black

I cocked the gun—a revolved, as the Vinkuns called it—and Fiyero tensed before I even had the end of the barrel at the back of his neck. I watched his hands twitch on the desk, maybe going to grab the nearest makeshift weapon or maybe just twitching to twitch, intently and pressed the barrel more firmly at the base of his bare neck. He told me that there was a guard nearby, and if I shot him, the guard would find me before I could even think about crawling out the window. I tsk-ed him and, in my best and heaviest northwestern accent, told him not to assume the guard was still breathing at this point. Again, his muscles tensed, visible to me because apparently the man is incapable of keeping his shirt on at night.

It was such a strange position, the one we were in. Of course, with a different weapon, it was the one I wanted to do the moment I started reading his file back in the Emerald City. I would have gladly given my comforts away just to have the chance to hold his life in my hands. And the past several days when I was training with the revolver, some of the few moments I was able to escape from Nessarose's critically watchful eye, all I could imagine was the sounds I would hear and images I would see if my finger were to accidentally slip on the trigger. It was the killer in me. We all had it. Some people learn to suppress it, some learn to embrace it, and others learn how to control it. Control it before it controls you. Assassins control it, because we have to. Control is the fine line between a job and a mauling.

The gun was not my weapon of choice, but the gun was more intimidating than my bow and arrow. I wouldn't have been able to get so close with my bow and arrow, though. My bow and arrow were for hunting, playing cat and mouse, but this was full out attacking. I could see everything from this vantage point. The mirror in front of him, the one he had yet to look into, showed his eyes alternating between being fixed shut or staring at the wooden structure in front of him. It showed how his jaw was clenched and face flush with adrenaline. And from behind him I could see the way his body fought its fight or flight mentality and the short breaths he was taking to keep up with his racing heart. Honestly, it was quite exhilarating to witness.

"Please," Fiyero breathed pleadingly, his eyes were shut now and his face screwed up in whatever emotion was dominating him, "I can give you anything you want."

I laughed harshly and told him he couldn't possibly give me all the things I wanted. He fisted his hands before unfisting them and slowly raising them, turning them back and forth as much as anatomy would allow. I kept the barrel firm on the back of his neck as he put his hands on the back of his head, near the crown, and slowly lowered himself to his knees. Like he was preparing to be executed. I swallowed the huff of breath I wanted to let out, because no matter what my job or history was, I was still the woman who was lying beside him in bed every night and waking up to his stupid feather light kisses in the morning. And here I was with a gun to his neck and him so ready to give his life up.

"Get up." I hissed, kicking at his heels. "Clothe yourself and do only that, or I will drop you and then go after the people you care about." Fiyero's head jerked to the side, and he stared out in front of him as he lowered his hands to his sides. "Come on, I know several different ways to bend you until your begging to tell me everything."

And then he was up, scrambling to put on a tunic and boots. All the while, he refused to look at anything other than my own boots.

"What do you want?" He asked, finally looking at me.

I did not squirm, but I could not say I was comfortable under his gaze. Even with the brilliant outfit hiding any green or trace of me, I still felt like he knew.

"World peace, equal rights, and a cup of coffee." I told him. He stared back with a frown tugging down on his lips. "But I'll settle for a book and conversation." I added, "Hurry up," when he hadn't moved.

Fiyero finished retying his pants and then held his arms out open. I _may _have fibbed a little, a smidge, really, and told him that if he tried running, I could stop his heart in the blink of an eye. When he gave me a quizzical look (that would have had Glinda gushing were the circumstances different), I let him know I wasn't opposed to a little black magic to get what I want. Also, for good measure, I told him my cat was expecting me to bring him back something, and I hadn't found anything at the market, so if he tried anything, I could always bring my cat back some makeshift balls. You want a man to do something for you, you threaten the anatomical parts that make him a male. Fiyero, to give credit when it's due, only paled a few shades before asking me to get on with it.

He let me lead him through the shadows of the corridors with a gun pressed to his spine.

"This isn't about me, is it?" He let out a sharp breath when he realized we were in his Grand Vizier's corridor.

"Hush, my pet," I cooed. "Pretty boys ought to only speak when spoken to."

"Are you going to kill me?" He asked, his voice strained.

"You haven't convinced me otherwise." I lied.

I bit my tongue when he choked back whatever he was planning on spilling from his mouth. This was going to traumatize him. I was going to traumatize him. But it was such a good plan! It was working so well so far.

"Now, tell me, my pretty," I hissed into his ear after shoving him into the room. I caught flash of a movement in the shadow out of the corner of my eye before bright blue eyes caught my stare then disappeared. "When your Grand Vizier is passing you the papers that allow your own people to be tortured, slaughtered, and brutalized, where do you sit?"

"Where do I sit?" He asked like he couldn't believe _that _was the question I was asking.

I dug the barrel into his spine, "Did I stutter?"

"Right there!" He answered, pointing to the seat in front of the desk, before I could even finish my question.

"Don't lie to me." I used my free hand to grab a handful of his hair and yank. "Where do you sit?" I lowered my voice and practically spat the words. He stiffened up despite how uncomfortable it must have been.

"I swear to you, I sit in that seat."

"Fetch me a book." I pushed him towards one of the bookshelves, still keeping the gun trained on him. "Any one, it doesn't matter. One with a good title, preferably."

I could see Glinda, the bright blue eyes, frowning at me out of the corner of my eye. We had planned that Fiyero actually does not sit in that chair. Although, the fact that he sits in her office to sign these papers speaks volumes. Like a schoolboy signing a bad grade on an exam rather than a Prince signing for the murder of innocents. Anyway, Fiyero, bookshelf, book. He threw a skeptical glance over his shoulder and then pulled the first one he found out. Apparently his initial caution was over, because he turned around and lazily leaned against the shelf while watching me, opened the damned book, touched the pad of his finger to the tip of his tongue and flipped to the title page. I had the pleasure of watching that arrogance wash away from his face in an instant. He frowned and flipped through some more pages before quickly grabbing for another book.

"The books are blank." He whispered, his frown deepening as he picked up another and another. "They're blank." He repeated.

"You're not being very helpful, Prince Tiggular."

The gears in Fiyero's blissful little brain were going berserk. I could practically hear them trying to sort out this new information.

"What does that mean?" I asked.

"She always-" He cut himself off, looking like he shouldn't be telling me this. Thankfully, he decided against that thought, "She always comes over here and consults them when we're talking."

"Where do you file your ordinances?"

"She keeps them in the cabinet." He sighed. She keeps them.

Feeling bold, and quiet safe with Glinda and Avaric both in the shadows nearby, I put the revolver away as Fiyero crossed the room to the filing cabinet. He tried a series of combinations to break into the first one. I made him a glass of liquor with a little treat to sweeten things. He finally broke into one and let out a muffled cry when he found it empty. I let him go through the rest til his heart was content. Well, I suppose that wasn't quite the right word.

"Have a seat, my pet, and talk to Auntie Witch." Without much complaint, he sunk into the chair he claimed he always sat in. "If not here, where?" I passed him one of the glasses I had prepared, but he grabbed for the one I had closest to me. It was too easy. And he downed it in one go.

"Why should I tell you?" He sneered. "You're just going to kill me anyway."

"You're right." I nodded, sitting down in the chair Morrible would have. "I am quite interested in seeing if you make those delightful noises your brother made when I let the blood drain from his body." Fiyero stared at me in horror. "And I'm rather interested in seeing if your green girl bleeds the same sin her skin is stained." I wasn't a fool. Even if this was temporary, I knew he cared about me. It was a little terrifying watching the terror on his face when I threatened to kill myself, but it was very effective.

"Please." He begged hoarsely.

"Where?"

He licked his lips, looking stricken with grief, "She takes trips to the Emerald City more often than not. I think she has business up there or at least a place to stay. My brother thinks…thought she was making under the table deals with someone in the City." He was so defeated. It was almost painful.

"What do you think?"

"I think if you kill me, she'll serve the Vinkus right to the Wizard." He blinked hard, and I took that as a sign that the chemicals were doing what they were supposed to. Regardless, I couldn't help the small smile that crept up on me at the conviction in his voice. And here I thought he had completely given up.

"You haven't done much to stop her so far. Letting her cut your people up like a butcher at the market. One would hardly think your death would make much of a difference."

Sloppily, Fiyero slammed a hand on the desk, "Kill me then." He slurred after a moment of staring at something that wasn't on his hand. "Kill me and it'll just remind people of the honor in death."

"Is that what you tell the families of the victims you've slaughtered?" His eyes shot up to look at where he thought mine were, but I went on before he had the chance to speak his thoughts. "Are you not the Prince of the Vinkus?"

"I am."

"Then why is she ruling?"

I could see the wetness pooling in his eyes, and I wasn't quite sure what to do. I wasn't equipped to deal with crying princes. Really, crying people in general. But it was Fiyero, and all I wanted to do was take it back. Wasn't the horrors I filled his head with enough? No. Unfortunately. I had to prod and open this wound further before throwing salt on it. So I made a jab about his late parents having complete lack of faith in him to efficiently rule the Vinkus. It left his emotions clawing at his face, scars for the world to see. It was an awful to have to witness.

He mumbled something, and I had to tell him to repeat it. "I'm not fit." He said a little louder.

"What are you talking about?"

He looked like he was going to be sick. "Baako was just as Tiggular as I am, but I'm not fit." A tear fell from his eye, and he caught it on the tip of his finger, staring at it with a mix of disgust and fascination. "Not competent, according to my father."

"And Morrible knew?"

"And Morrible knew." He nodded, blinking until another tear came out. "And was supposed to be sent to Shiz at the termination of her position. But she came to me and told me she knew a way we both could have what we wanted," he sighed, "so I listened."

"Baako's the crowned prince?"

"Was. Of course he was." I knew his lucidity was slipping after he tried, and failed at, rolling his eyes.

"Do you read the documents you sign?"

"I don't sign anything."

"What does that mean?" I barked urgently when his eyelids dropped lower and lower.

But before he could reply, his body betrayed him, and he slumped into a useless heap on the chair. I let out a hiss in frustration and pressed two fingers to his pulse point to make sure he was at least breathing.

"Your boyfriend is kind of pathetic." Avaric's voice broke through the silence before a candle was lit and the entire room was dimly illuminated.

I frowned at Avaric as he manhandled Fiyero into a standing position, "He's not my boyfriend."

Avaric rolled his eyes, "Either way. This was just shy of useless."

"Not entirely," Glinda showed up behind him after wiping surfaces down. "Pfanee and Shenshen are still working the Palace in the City. I can send word to them and have them check into any mentions of Morrible at the Palace."

"And get more people involved in this, no thank you." Avaric spat.

"Are we sure Baako's not the enemy?" I asked.

"He was on a quest, or whatever the hell the Winkies call it, the three months leading up to the King and Queen's death. He wouldn't have had contact with the outside world."

"What would happen if the truth were to get out?" Glinda looked pitifully down at Fiyero.

"Fiyero would be executed for several different charges," I told her quietly.

"But it's just a coup, isn't it?"

"Not here." Avaric said. "He'd be tried as a traitor, among other things."

"I'll send word to Em for information about Madame Morrible." I mumbled into a long stretch of silence. "Tell her it's out of professional curiosity."

"Put a bribe in with it, too."

Em was our inside informant in the Hall of Records. She was the only one of us to get high enough up to have constant social access to the Emerald Palace. No one knew her real name, so we just called her Em because of her jobs. Glinda and I had seen her entering the palace one time. She had long platinum hair was pin straight with emerald lowlights. She winked at us, and I think we both about had a heart attack. As far as assassins are concerned, Em was a celebrity. That being said, no one trusted her. Moreso than anyone else. She was a powerful woman, and you couldn't trust people with power. She had a fee for information, and doubling that insured the information would be for your eyes only and never spoke of.

"I'll help Glinda with the clean up if you take your boyfriend to bed."

I rolled my eyes but complied. Half walking, half dragging Fiyero back to the bedroom after Glinda and I hid black handprints in one of the blank books and left them on Morrible's desk. I dropped Fiyero into the nearest chair and searched around the room for a bottle of some kind of liquor. There was a bottle of wine in his nightstand. I used a sock from his drawer to saturate his mouth with it and then dripped some on his shirt. I took a long swig of the wine before putting it back in the drawer and shaking Fiyero awake.

"Fiyero," I laughed falsely. "Wake up, we're back."

His eye struggled to open, but he shot up like lightening within an instant.

"You're alright?" He grasped my shoulders, my arms. Pressing his fingers to every exposed part of me and then kissing me deeply. I don't think I ever hated my job more than I did in that moment. "You're alright." He whispered between kisses.

I snickered, "Of course I'm alright," I kissed him back briefly before leading him towards the bathroom. "I'm surprised you are. Baako and I were worried you'd concussed yourself."

"Baako-"

"How hard did you hit your head?" I talked over him. "Come on, let's get you cleaned up. Baako said you smelt like sweat and liquor unappealingly."

"Elphaba, what are we doing?" He asked as I sat him on the counter.

"Cleaning you up," I smiled, running my thumb along his cheekbone.

He shook his head, holding my hand to his face and kissing the inside of my wrist, "I mean we. What are we doing? Going?"

"Oh, I, uhm-" Was no expecting him to have any sort of clarity after the chemicals we gave him.

"We don't have to lay out a plan or anything. I just need to know if I need to remember monogamy from now on."

I took my hand back and stared at him.

"Because I would," he added, "if you asked me to, I would."

Did he really want me to answer to him? What was I supposed to say? Was I really that big of an idiot to say that I didn't want him? No, not an idiot, a liar. Hadn't I done enough lying tonight? So I shrugged and handed him the glass of water, that was always waiting for him at night, and a small tablet that helped after a rough night on a job. He didn't need to know what the tablet was or where I had gotten it from. He didn't ask, either. Just took it and the glass while watching me expecting more than a measly shrug from me.

"I think so." My lips quirked to the side, my sad attempt to keep from smiling.

Fiyero did not share the same reservation. He had a goofy grin on his face before he popped back the tablet and swallowed it dry then gulped down the glass of water. I swear, I think he was still grinning like a mad man as he latched himself to my side and dozed off an hour after reacquainting ourselves with the feel and taste of each other's mouth.

.

"Fucking Oz, Glinda!" Avaric cried out the next afternoon when a sickening sound filled the room after Glinda's skinny little elbow roughly made contact with my nose. "I just told you to disarm her."

I blinked rapidly as I felt the blood come gushing out of my nose. I didn't need to touch it to know she had fractured it, because, Oz, did it hurt. Avaric snatched the towel Glinda had rushed to get away from her and held it gently under my nose to soak up some of the blood before he set it. I'm not sure which pain was worse, the fracturing or setting. Probably the setting, because I knew that was coming. The fracture itself was not foreseen and happened before I could even process where her elbow was going to land. I let out a yelp of pain when Avaric's warm hands snapped my nose back into its proper position. I didn't believe in karma so much, but the universe had to be paying me back for the trick we pulled on Fiyero.

Of course, Glinda was always a good person to blame. I knew that look in her eye wasn't the nothing she claimed it to be after Avaric and I had our one on one combat. I couldn't even believe she was jealous over fighting him. Although, I suppose, if I had to see things from her point of view, not being considered strong enough to fight him was in some way not considered worth enough. Either way, it hardly constituted as a viable reason to go and try and knock my nose clean off my face. I let her fuss and get her apologies out of the way, though. She was a malicious person, and she could have honestly just been intending to rough me up. My nose was collateral.

"It's fine, Glinda, I promise." I said behind the pressure of the towel. "Not nearly as bad as that time you knocked my head against that frozen beam." I reminded her bitterly.

She frowned, "We've gotten past that."

"So this is nothing." I squeezed her hand. "Avaric, why don't you show her that nerve pinch you taught me? It'll come in hand if she can't access her chloroform."

"Where are you going?" He scowled.

"To wash the blood off my face and see if the kitchen staff will let me steal something cold to put on my nose." Shouldn't that have been obvious? "I'll be back and bring Boq with me."

"He's holed himself up in the library in the village." Glinda said. "He's crosschecking public records from the Vinkus and ones he snagged from the City before leaving. It's best not to bother him when he's nosing through those sources, you know."

I nodded and slipped out of the room into the empty corridor. For a girl who does not like to get her hands dirty, Glinda sure was capable of leaving one hell of a mark when she did. I felt like fire was oozing from my nose despite the decrease in bleeding. I wasn't even properly manhandling her, and she did a swift roundabout and nailed me in the right spot. And my leg was just starting to heal, too. I think I'd accumulated more lengthy injuries on this job than any other. Even that big brawl we got into when our job was the head of some back alley Animal trading ring was cake compared to this. Those were some intimidatingly hefty men, and I still managed to escape with just a cracked rib. I mean, seriously, the force she put-

"Elphaba!" I froze in place before collecting myself and stealing a glance up at the end of the corridor without the towel held to my nose. Oh, thank, Oz. It was just Nessa. "Goodness! What happened to you?" How did she even get down here? And then the Yunamata's future chieftain stumbled out of the adjoining corridor. Dakota, was it? Coda?

"Just practicing." I answered carefully.

"Practicing? For what?" I gave her a look, and her mouth formed a small 'o'.

She made it clear to me and Boq that she wanted to hear nothing about our job, anything related to it at all, really. She had sent Goose and Spirit back to the castle, saying that Boq hadn't arrived on the train. The Quadlings hadn't quite believed her, but they didn't protest and left us shortly after. We checked Boq into an inn not far from the center of the village, a perfect vantage point for him. Nessa had told us that she didn't agree with out career, and promptly gave us the reasons why our actions were despicable and amoral; she was also curious as to who or work had stopped. I think she had a morbid fascination with us, because neither of us looked like we would be the assassin type, yet we were. Boq told me not to trust her, keep her close, but do not trust her. Because she promised not to sell us out. She just wanted to know why we were here, why we were really here, and her mouth would remain sealed. We usually killed people who knew as much as she did.

Killing her was too risky, though. And, as I kept reminding myself, counterproductive. Nessarose was a fountain of information. All I needed to do was keep her on my side and her mouth firmly shut. I glanced warily at Lakota, though, and had a sudden doubt about Nessa's ability to keep a secret. She had split most people's to me, after all.

"Takoda," Takoda! "is going to pay the inn keeper off to keep Boq there as long as need be." Of course she told him. Word was going to get out and I was going to be blacklisted.

I didn't answer her. Just stayed still, taking in the picture of the two of them. I really ought to just drop them now.

Takoda spoke up before I could finalize my decision, "Morrible's come to me about uniting with the City."

Or maybe keep them.

"Yunamata have a bad history of being mercenaries for the Wizard," He went on to explain when I refused to give them any sort of acceptable social interaction. "Involvement has gone down considerably since my family came to power, but she's still come round asking about it."

I glanced about the corridor and motioned for them to follow me. After a bit of struggling, Takoda managed to get Nessarose back up the stairwell and the next until we were in my quarters. He collapsed onto the bed, a mess of sweat and heaving pants. Apparently not all royal Vinkuns were fit as they were trim. I smirked and sat in front of the vanity to get to making my nose not look like a radish shoved down an asparagus. I kept an eye on the two in the mirror. Nessa was looking around the room while Takoda tried regaining himself.

"You look like you haven't even settled in." Nessarose frowned as she took everything in.

"I have alternative quarters." I told them and earned a sharp eye from Nessa. I shrugged.

Takoda cleared his throat. "Nessarose said you were trying to prove that Fiyero was innocent. I want to help. I've known Fiyero all my life. There's no way he's capable of the genocide that's going on." I patted gently at the dried blood. "He's no more conniving than Nessa is wicked." Unfortunately, he was a little more conniving than people thought. But that wasn't for them to know.

"People often surprise us. For all we know, he could be hiding something."

"Something that could explain the killing of all those people? They weren't just Arjiki in those attacks. Yunamata and Scrow were victims, too, and I know if we approached the Scrow's leader, she would probably tell us that she's been approached about an alliance, too." Takoda said authoritatively. "We're Vinkuns. Our country comes before our clan."

I dumped the bloodied water into the empty chamber pot in the bathroom and left the two of them in my room while I quickly washed up. It was incredibly rude, but I wasn't too concerned about how accommodating I was being to people who had just bombarded me like that. Glinda and I liked involving the least amount possible of people on jobs, and Avaric like having no one but himself and an extra hand when needed. This job was becoming a black hole, though. Every new stone turned over revealed a new people who could be equally beneficial and dangerous. Nessa was a wealth of information, but Takoda could be my inside man. I mean, he was the perfect kind of ally if we were talking politics of the job. But he was friends with Fiyero, so it put him in the same boat as Baako. We only used Baako when absolutely necessary because of his bias. Takoda had loyalties to Fiyero, and one wrong move could have him spilling everything to the Prince.

"Alright," I said, coming out of the bathroom, fresh and clean and decision made. The two looked up from whatever conversation they had been engrossed in. "I need an inside man. We can only get so much information as acquaintances without using blunt force and manipulation."

"Anything," Takoda promised.

"I need you to play along like you're interested in forming a unity." I sat down in the vanity's chair. "Find out what you can about what would happen as a result of the unity, why she wants to unify, ask Fiyero's part…Just find out everything you can with this scenario."

"Is there anything I should know?" He asked, scratching at a spot on his shoulder.

His shirt moved to reveal a diamond pattern from the crook of his neck and fading beneath his shirt. Instead of the blue that Baako and Fiyero had, Takoda's were a pristine white. It was such an odd color to see on his tanned skin. They were even whiter than a finely pressed dress shirt. It was an impressive color.

"It's important that Madame Morrible not know she's suspected of anything. If you can, try to show a little contempt towards Fiyero." They frowned deeply at my comment. "You know as well as I that Fiyero is no saint. I'd just prefer to not piss her off enough for her to have the desire to flaunt his less admirable qualities."

Takoda nodded. "Is that all?" He stood to leave.

"I trust your confidentiality is not needed to be discussed?" He grinned at me. "Thank you." I added sincerely.

Nessa sighed when he shut the door behind him. She was still smiling at the closed door when I moved from the chair to the bed. I'd nearly forgotten how comfortable it was.

"My father wants you to join us for dinner tonight." Nessa said, breaking the comfortable silence that had settled over us. "He's quite interested in your work."

"Nessa!" I snapped. "We didn't tell you so you could go and blab to people! Do you understand how important it is to keep this quiet? We could be executed for all the history we have. This isn't some bit of gossip to bring back to your daddy!"

She rolled her eyes, unperturbed by my tone, just before a soft knock tapped on the door. The door opened, revealing a smiling Fiyero wanting to go for a walk in the Grasslands. Brilliant. Just what I wanted right now. I leveled Nessarose with a glare before getting up to grab my cloak.

"My father is quite a useful resource, Elphaba." Nessa continued. She paused, considering her words, "He's really interested in _everything, _and he can be very understanding of oppositional viewpoints when people support their argument." I nodded, waving her towards the door. "Please say you'll dine with us?"

"Nessa…"

"Your father wants to have dinner with Elphaba?" Fiyero asked, inserting himself into the conversation. Nessa confirmed. "Elphaba, that's perfect!" I sneered at him. "Who better to know of orphaned babies than the governor of Munchkinland?" He was way too excited about this.

"Actually, my mother would have been Governor roughly around the time Elphaba was born." Nessa burst his bubble.

He shrugged it off, though, "I'm sure your father would know something about the birth of a green baby while his wife was in charge. It's not the sort of thing that goes unnoticed."

I wanted to laugh. You'd be surprised how well green goes unnoticed.

"Anyway, yes?" Nessa turned her attention to me before Fiyero and I made to disappear down the corridor.

"Yes, fine, I'll dine with you and the Governor tonight."

**So...who's ready for their first family dinner? I already have the chapter written! It's fast paced and got a lot in it, like some of Elphaba's back story!**

**Just leave some love, and I'll post it soon!:)**


	8. Lifted

The Governor was not a friendly man. He wasn't exactly unfriendly, but he wasn't the type of person to take any kind of liking to anyone in such a short manner of time. I wouldn't have been surprised if Nessarose was the only person he considered himself close to. He just held himself so rigid, and the smile he produced was barely even a smile at all. At first, when I came knocking on their door, I thought that maybe it was me who caused this coolness in him. But I watched the way Nessa held herself around him and the movements she made, and nothing seemed out of the ordinary. It wasn't like she was trying to overcompensate for anything, so I had to assume that this aloofness was the Governor's typical attitude.

That being said, he was a very interesting man. Most of the time he wasn't intentionally interesting, but when the subject of religion had been brought up as we sipped on tea before dinner, he let out slips of personality. He had strong opinions of religion, believed wholeheartedly in the Unnamed God, and spoke to eloquently about the certainty of His existence. When Nessa put her two pecks in, though, I noticed the way his body tensed as if he was restraining something. Nessa's religious conviction was much stronger than the Governor's, and she spoke so furiously about the passion of the Unnamed God that the Governor was minimalized to nods of encouragement, and rolled eyes when Nessa wasn't looking at him.

It wasn't just the religion, though. He seemed well versed in other matters, too. He loved to talk about travel. I figured he had picked up most of this love of travel when he was a Unionist minister, because he didn't have stories about big cosmopolitan cities like the Emerald City or Kvon Altar or Shiz, but small villages like Rush Margins and the like. His favorite places to talk about were the southernmost villages in Quadling Country. He also quite liked the unsurveyed land east of Munchkinland. He said the people were so willing to consider new things and people that they were nicer than any Ozian he had ever come across, and the land was so mesmerizing that Oz paled in comparison. Of course, Nessa took the talk of exoticism to leeway into why I was here in the first place.

"How does one stumble upon the life you've chosen?" The Governor asked after Nessa told him that Glinda and I were the pink and green handprint killers. Assassins, I wanted to correct her.

I chewed the lettuce in my mouth slowly. There were plenty of things I'd rather be talking about, and my history was not one of them. It's not that I was ashamed of who I was or how I can come to know the life I live. It's just that it should be no one's business but my own. It wasn't even that I had a fear of my past coming to haunt me, like Glinda and Boq feared, or that what I do in the shadows would affect my being in the light, like Avaric. The only wealth I had was what I amassed while doing the job I do. I had nothing before. I was no one. Untraceable. But my history was mine. It was meant to stay with me and not be opened up for speculation and interrogation.

Nessa was looking at me, though, with the utmost innocent curiosity. Nessa who was so sweet and really was trying to help. Nessa who was quickly turning into someone I care about with her soft voice and eager smile. Yet, she was the very reason why I hated my job, why I hated associating with people in general. Because regardless of her good-heartedness, she was very dangerous, to myself and herself. With everything she was saying, all the people she was telling, and all she knew, I could hesitate if the time came when I would need to drop her and all the people she went and talked to. It was a terrible thing, but it was something that had to be done if the time called for it.

But I had nothing to be ashamed of.

"Through a life of misfortune and one lucky open door."

"Are you adverse to talking about your upbringing?"

"I've spent my whole life in the Emerald City." I told him, pushing around the vegetables on my plate.

"Elphaba's a native Munchkin." Nessarose added as if it would help.

"Really?" Her father raised his eyebrows, and I gave a noncommittal shrug. "Families rarely leave Munckinland for the City. Are yours merchants?"

"I don't know," I mumbled, setting my fork down and clearing my throat. "I was sold to a travelling salesman after I was born, and he dropped me off in an alleyway with a woman and her rock."

"And this woman raised you?"

"Just until I could properly fend for myself."

Yackle. That was her name. She was in my life for such a short time that I barely remember her some days. She used to break into people's homes in the wintertime while they were in another part of Oz enjoying the luxury of a second home. We never stayed in one home too long, from what I can recall, and I'm sure she had done it like that before I had proper memories. In the warmer months, though, we kept to the streets and alleys, staking her claim on places for our butts to rest. It wasn't an awful first several years of existence. There were some things that I was eternally grateful for, like her belief that literacy was more important than a bath. But she dropped me off at a library when I was five, and I haven't seen her since.

The Governor frowned deeply when I recounted that to him and Nessarose, who looked positively horrified at all aspects of the first five years of my life. A silence washed over us, so I took several long sips of wine. The Governor's hand twitched a couple of times before he reached across the table and squeezed my hand then took it back like he had touched an open flame. He apologized, though I'm not sure which action he was referring to, and I just grinned and nodded. If he was talking about Yackle, then it wasn't his fault. And if he was talking about acting like I was made of something contagious, well, he wasn't the first to act like that and wouldn't be the last.

"What happened when you realized you were on your own?" Nessarose asked, completely entranced like my story was some kind of magical tale.

Nothing really. Not for a while. I mostly stayed in the alleyway behind the library at night and spent days inside, reading my way through it. I didn't necessarily grow tired of the library, but I wanted to see other things. So after the library was the Emerald Museum of Minerals and then the Museum of Ozma. I learned to pickpocket from a man with one eye and a crooked nose, so that's how I managed to buy things I needed like bread and sanitary water. It carried me for three years before I was old enough to some kind of proper, under the table work.

A stupid little job, picking apples for an old woman who was too brittle to reach the apples at the top of the tree. She gave me a silver peck for every apple I picked, and sometimes she would give me an extra handful of them if I cleaned, smoked, and harvested honey from her box of bees. She didn't really like me at first, but the more bee stings I got, the more I think she took pity on me. After a few months, she started leaving her back door unlocked after nightfall and warm water in the bath attached to the guest bedroom. I knew she was doing it for me when she mentioned that sometimes she wondered why the little rats of the street didn't take advantage of her so obvious hospitality. I was the only one who knew what she was doing. Of course, she died several months later, so I took all the money I could and cleared out before the smell could reach the neighbors.

The next five years were rough. The winters were brutal to the point that most people wouldn't venture out of their homes, even to move to another home. I'd seen so many people freeze to death or severe limbs because the cold took hold of the limb. The ones who were unlucky enough to live through the winter had to resort to some cruel practices just to survive. Burning the bodies to keep warm was a common practice until the Gale Force came round to shut it down after residents on the other side of town complained about the smell. So then we started burning their clothes and belongings and throwing them unceremoniously into the river. Even if it was frozen. I once heard a man say that we ought to always throw the dead where the living could see, see what their greed was doing to us.

I changed the subject, not even delving into the even worse summers, when I noticed the way the both of them were paling. Even the Governor in all his detached glory looked like he couldn't bear to hear anything more on those five years. So I moved on to when I met the man who taught me how to shoot a bow and arrow. Really, it was when everything started.

"We all have identifiers that set us apart from everyone we work with." I told them. "Everyone just called him Bolt."

"Bolt?" The Governor frowned. "He had been in the papers, hadn't he? Why call him Bolt?"

I shifted uncomfortably in my seat. Bolt because he carved a lightning bolt into the throat of each of his victims with the same arrow he used to kill them. I didn't tell the Governor or Nessa that, though. I just said it was a sort of calling card. Actually, I remained very vague about Bolt. He was a very vicious man, and I had been lucky that he found nonconformity an attractive quality, because I quickly learned it was better to be beneath him than in his line of fire. I just told them that Bolt had taken a liking to me when he saw me stealing from a man he was contracted to take out. I had been rummaging through the numerous cabinets in the house when the man caught me, with a rifle in his hands, but Bolt dropped him before he could even aim properly.

"I owed my life to him." I said, scowling down at the cold and untouched food on my plate. "He taught me all the basics, how to work with a bow and arrow. How to do a little more than survive. He gave me an entire emerald back to set put away and start saving."

"He's the reason you do what you do?"

"Not necessarily the reason. He's the reason I'm able to do what I do. But I lived on the streets my entire child and young adulthood. I'd seen more injustices than reporters can even think to write about. No, reality is the reason I do what I do. Bolt was the means for me to start."

"Are you still in contact with him?" Nessarose asked.

I hesitated. I wasn't ashamed. "Bolt and I were working a job across the street from the Upland's estate the night Glinda's father died." I said. "We took her in, and Bolt changed. He started drinking more and getting handsy." I shrugged. "It would have happened sooner or later. He was getting old."

The Governor jeered, "You killed him?"

"I saved Glinda from anymore unnecessary trauma." I snapped. "Glinda's the closest thing I have to family. Would you not do anything to protect the ones you love?"

They sat quietly and mulled that over while I poured more wine into my glass. Going to the taverns with Fiyero, Avaric, and whoever they managed to collect was sounding better and better. This was why my memories were mine. I didn't judge myself for my past. The things I did only served as obstacles I had overcome. While they molded me into the person I am today, they were hardly hindrances to my person. They were the reason why most assassins kept company of other assassins when they needed human contact. We understood each other on some level. We understood everyone had a story. And we understood not every story was kid friendly. How could it be?

"I believe your parents would be proud of how far you've come." The Governor finally said.

I couldn't keep the frown of my face. It wasn't his place to decide that. It wasn't his place to say what was and wasn't worthy of parental pride. While his sympathy was a better alternative to being ratted out, it still wasn't welcome or appreciated.

"I don't care what my parents may or may not feel about my life. They gave up that privilege when they gave me away." I told him calmly.

He nodded solemnly.

"Have you ever been interested in finding them?" Nessa asked, and the Governor gave her a withering look.

"Sometimes I think I want to know, but then I remember that my life is just fine without a mother or father."

"But with everything with Fiyero, paternity is so important to the Vinkuns."

"Everything with Fiyero?" The Governor glanced between us.

Nessarose was beaming, more than excited for the both of us, "Fiyero's gone and asked Elphaba to see him explicitly!" If possible, her smiled widened. "It's like a fairy tale."

"It's not that big of a deal." I rolled my eyes.

"Expect it is!" Nessa gasped. "You don't just date the Prince of the Vinkus—future _King _of the Vinkus."

"I'm not exactly in a position to date freely with the intent of marriage." Nessa frowned at me. "That's not to say I don't care for him, because I do, but there's not much room for a future with what I do. Especially with what I'm currently working on."

"She's right, Nessa." The Governor agreed with me. "But it is quite a feat to be the reason Prince Fiyero has figuratively lost his heart, Miss Elphaba."

"I'm more concerned with the literal sense."

His lips quirked briefly, "Fair enough."

"I should really be going," I said, gazing out the window at the setting sun. The taverns would be getting a chunk of my money tonight. "But I can't tell you how thankful I am for an open ear and mind, Governor Thropp."

"Perhaps another dinner with me and Nessa before the festivities start next week?" He inquired as they walked me to the door.

"Does this mean I have a confidant in you?" I asked.

"I've never been particularly fond of a woman who cares more for her personal wealth than for the welfare of the country she's looking over." He said.

"Maybe I can hear a little about Munchkinland next time, then?"

"Of course. Good night, Miss Elphaba."

I stared at the closed door for a couple minutes before it became a little creepy to be standing in an empty corridor, staring at a door. I needed a drink.

.

"I hate you three so much!" Boq cried as we streaked through the decline of foothills of The Great Kells, running towards the village that Kiamo Ko sat over.

My lungs were on fire, but the adrenaline coursing through my veins was so addicting that I pushed on just to keep the feeling. I let out a bark of laughter when Boq made a strangled noise somewhere between a cry of pain and one of anger. He was going hysterical with the exertion. He let out an animalistic cry before a bullet went whizzing past my ear that I had assumed just passed by his own ear. Whatever, though. It put some fire under his ass, and he was suddenly matching Glinda's strides just slightly behind me and Avaric.

"Break at the 'T' and hit the rendezvous spot when you can!" Avaric shouted.

A breath or two later, we were splitting in two groups, each taking a different direction. Glinda and Boq disappeared in an alleyway, and Avaric and I, because we were the fastest of the group, kept on the main road, leading our chasers away from Glinda and Boq who had the goods.

There had been a tradeoff happening in behind the toll at Knobblehead Pike. Boq, who had learned that the taverns were the best place to gather information in the Vinkus, heard about several documents that were supposed to be transferred from Kiamo Ko to the Emerald City, and vice versa. He said it could always just be census documents, but it was worth looking into, especially since it was so seemingly shady and the City was giving something in return. So we looked into it, and by looking into it, I mean we ambushed them and stole all the documents. We had not accounted for the agents they had on guard in the surrounding bushes. There was only a few of them, but they were still giving us a good cardio workout.

Avaric took us on several sharp turns before we were crowded, chest to chest, in a small niche. We were both heaving, keeping our mouths firmly shut, but heaving as we tried allowing the air that had left us to come back. I could feel Avaric's gaze hot on me as his warm breath came out in short puffs, hitting the crook of my neck and shoulder, while I trained my own on the street outside. We were so close. Close enough for me to be uncomfortably aware of how upset Glinda would be were she not on the other side of town, no doubt trying to calm down our little Munchkin.

"You should take Glinda out to dinner." I whispered when I noticed Avaric's face coming closer.

He let out a huff of breath, but his face retreated, head thumping against the wall behind him. He was still unfortunately close, but there wasn't much we could do until the belligerents walked past.

"I promised Boq I wouldn't touch her." He muttered.

"Well, don't release your sexual frustrations out on me." I snapped before slipping out of the niche, readying my arrow and getting one of the guys dead center through the neck. He made a terrible gargling sound that caught his partner's attention. Avaric's axe landed between his eyes, dropping him to the ground heavily.

"I don't care for Glinda like that. She's like a little sister to me."

"Don't tell me this." I bit, slinging my bow across my back and looking for a way up the tallest building. Finding it was easy and scaling it was easier.

"You can't honestly want to stay with Fiyero." He sneered once we reached the top. "He's dumber than a box of rocks and boring." Avaric stood in front of me as I readied my aim to take out a lone guard looking for any of us. "I know you. I know what you like and don't. We can be great together."

"Move or I will castrate you." I snarled.

He held his hand up in temporary defeat and moved to the side. I grinded my teeth, shifting my focus on the job at hand before narrowing in on the lone guard. Out of the corner of my view, though, I saw Glinda and Boq still running from the two who had gone after them. I groaned and threw my aim towards the one who was closest to Boq and Glinda. I don't know where the arrow hit him, but he went down, tripping the other. I turned back to the lone guard as Boq stole the moment to cut the tripped one's neck. The lone guard staggered before falling into the river, taking my last arrow with him.

"Let's rendezvous." I mumbled to Avaric who was lazily leaning against the roof's barrier.

"You people are crazy." Boq spat as we all filed into Avaric's room after rendezvousing and taking care of the bodies.

"Wasn't exciting enough for you?" Avaric smirked.

"I'll stick with my research."

"You held up very well, Boq." Glinda patted Boq's arm reassuringly before Boq collapsed on the bed.

I cleaned up the cuts and scrapes on my hands from scaling the building as Avaric and Glinda read through the documents that had been the cause of our problems tonight. I hissed lightly as I picked at the splinters embedded in my palms.

"Oh dear." Glinda said it so quietly that we almost all missed it. But when Avaric repeated it after the two switched the current documents, I was sure that she had said it.

Boq took his arm off of his eyes to peer at the pair of Gillikins. "Oh dear, what?" He frowned.

"It's an appeal for war support." Avaric turned the document over to Boq. "Signed by Fiyero and sealed with the royal brand."

"And this is an approval of the request." Glinda handed the other document to me. "The date is two three weeks from now, though. It's signed by the Wizard, Elphie."

Boq motioned for me to hand him the document and took it himself when I didn't move.

"Fiyero couldn't have signed those." I snapped when Glinda said that the rest of the documents in the file—requests for materials and men—bore Fiyero's signature. "You heard him say he didn't sign anything."

"He could have been lying." Avaric reminded me.

"I don't believe that." I shook my head.

"Because your head is so far up his ass, you can't see right from wrong!" Avaric barked as Boq took the file from Glinda.

"I'm the only one getting anything done around here!" I retorted. "You're so busy finding out what his clueless brother knows that you're overlooking everyone else. We wouldn't be where we're at if it wasn't for me!"

"Where we're at?" He scoffed. "We're struggling to hold onto leads because you can't sort out your personal feelings from your professional ones!"

"My feelings are getting your job done, you brainless brute."

I laid a strong, open handed smack across the baboon's face when he forcibly grabbed and jerked my arm, sending me stumbling backwards a little.

"Knock it off, you barbarians." Boq hissed. "Elphaba may be right," I smirked smugly at Avaric who sneered in return. "All of these signatures are the same, letter for letter." He pointed out something to Glinda. "That's not possible unless someone was stamping his signature."

"Whether or not he's actually signing them is not relevant anymore." Avaric said, glaring at me briefly before turning back to the Munchkin. "Whatever was meant to start has started if these documents were shipped out tonight. We need to do something."

Boq and Glinda muttered in agreement.

"We need to tell him."

I snorted, "Because cornering him like a hunted animal will have him confessing."

"If he's innocent, then he has nothing to hide. If he's lying, then we'll find out."

"Go get him, Elphaba," Boq spoke up.

"What?" Was he really listening to Avaric? "You can't be serious."

"Do you see this?" Boq waved the documents in front of him. "Do you know the destruction that will come from an all out civil war between the Winkies? This is the type of thing we work to stop, Elphaba. Now, go get Fiyero or I'll do it, and you'll be on the next train back to the City."

A dim light was glowing from underneath Fiyero's shut door. I let myself in, because it was something we had grown so accustomed to doing the past month, but froze in the threshold at the sight of him. A selection of the weapons I had hidden around his room where laid out on the bed along with two closed files. Another file was in his hands, his head bowed, reading it over. He didn't look up at me, but he really didn't need to. I took my hand off the handle and slowly entered the room, shutting the door behind me but not locking it.

"What's your last name?"

"What's that?" I asked softly, cautiously, avoiding his own question.

He picked the paper up, it was the only paper in the file. It looked like it was a collage of several different handprints. Each one resolutely different than the previous one. And each one had fine writing underneath it.

"Palm prints," He sighed. "Lifted off of the prints from the victims of the Pink and Green Handprint Killers. It's specifically the green one. What's your last name?"

"I don't have one." I told him. "I never took one."

"There's no records of an Ephaba anywhere." Fiyero quirked his lips while gazing down at the paper.

"Have you been checking up on me?" I frowned.

He looked at me a bit incredulously. "You've agreed to date the Vinkun crowned prince and expect not to have a background check?" I raised my eyebrows. "Anyway, Madame Morrible thought it would be a good idea." He waved back to the paper in front of him. "The second to last one was a handprint pulled from the glass on Madame Morrible's desk, and the last one was a print pulled from a glass you used at a meal." He paused again, like it was hard for him to say anything. "All of them match."

His gaze flicked up to me when I slid the door's lock into place. "So I poked around the room and found some things, I'm assuming they're yours, because I sure as hell don't leave my weapons around my room."

"Does Morrible know?"

"Are you not denying?"

"I'm asking if you told Madame Morrible about what you found."

He stared at me, and I did my best to hold it. "I thought we owed it to each other to confront this between us before I went to my advisor." I slumped against the locked door in relief. "I'm going to assume the weapons are yours."

I took a deep break before nodding to the other files on the bed, "Who's are those?"

Fiyero stood up, tossing my file on the bed and picking up the other two. He handed them to me, but I didn't flip them open. I watched Fiyero as he stuffed his hands in his pockets and rocked back on his heels. It was a deceptively casual position. Deceptive because I could see his right hand clutching at some weapon hidden within his pocket, ready if need be.

"Avaric and Glinda's." He explained. "Their files were much easier than yours to get a hold of." High praise, really. "Dots are rather simple to connect once I read theirs over. The sudden increase in murders, the unexplained shortage of arrows in the armory, and the money taken out of the defense fund for a classified mission are starting to make sense."

I stiffened up. "How much was taken out of the fund?" I rolled my eyes at the expression on his face, "Humor me."

"Ten thousand." He said, studying me for my reaction.

Avaric got paid half twenty thousand for this job, the rest to be received upon completion; he got paid ten thousand.

"Who took it out?" He crossed his arms over his chest in defiance. "Fiyero, if I was going to kill you, don't you think I would have done it already?"

"A good kill takes time."

"A good kill is one with no time wasted." I corrected. "How much time have I wasted lounging in here with you?" Fiyero didn't answer me, just pursed his lips. "No one on my team is here to kill you." I promised him. "We want to help you."

"Help me?" He scoffed. "How does holding a gun to me and drugging me help me?"

"You told me that you haven't signed any papers when we drugged you!" I snapped back. "And you told me about Baako. All of these things are extremely useful for us trying to save your ass." I pushed away from the door and walked over the bed, disarming myself and dropping all the weapons that had been on me on the bed. I raised my hands out for him, showing him the fresh injuries. "We intercepted some documents that were being exchanged between Kiamo Ko and the Emerald City."

"It was probably just the census records."

"Except it wasn't." His head cocked to the side, rebelling against the hard expression on his face. "Among the ones going to the City was an appeal for a declaration of war. It was signed by you, just like all the other documents."

Fiyero opened his mouth to respond but shut it with a frown. His voice was strained and uncertain when he finally asked me what the document coming was. I told him about it. About how it was an approval and when it was signed for. It may have insulted his intelligence, but I went ahead and explained the significance of it all. He nodded along with me, sinking into the chair at his desk and running his fingers shakily through his hair. It would probably be wrong to show him physical affection as a form of comfort, so I twisted my fingers together and waited for him to do something else.

"Is it Baako?"

I glanced up at him from assessing all the weapons on the bed. He didn't get the dagger that I stole from Avaric.

"We don't think so." I shook my head. "My friend's been doing extensive research on him, and we've kept a tail on him. It's very unlikely that he's aware of the deal you and Morrible made."

"But not unlikely?"

"We're some of the best in our field," I told him, sitting across from him. "We wouldn't be here if we weren't. When I tell you that Baako is not like to be guilty, then I mean it. It's Morrible that we're worried about."

Fiyero fisted his hands together and rested his forearms on his knees as he leaned forward. I took the opportunity to take his hands him mine and squeeze them before placing a gentle kiss on his knuckles. That he let me, I took as a good sign.

"We can help you, Fiyero. I know how much you care about the Vinkus and your people. And I know that while some of your decisions are less than honest, but I trust that you did it for honorable reasons." I held his gaze and went on, "All these slaughters are leading to a civil war. And I can guarantee you that it's a war Morrible plans on you not surviving. Your approval rate among the Vinkuns is so low right now, that you'd merely be overlooked as a war casualty."

"I don't need help." He seethed.

"Yes, you do."

**Thoughts? Questions? Comments?**


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